


From Under the Ice

by prettythoughts_deadlymind



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Angst, Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, Biting, Body Worship, Bonding, Bottom Katsuki Yuuri, Bottom Victor Nikiforov, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Claiming, Claiming Bites, Disney Princess Viktor, Eros Katsuki Yuuri, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I keep updating my tags, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, Insecure Victor Nikiforov, Insecurity, Jealous Katsuki Yuuri, Little Mermaid Elements, Long-Haired Victor Nikiforov, M/M, Marking, Mutual Pining, Pining, Porn With Plot, Slow Build, Smut, Supportive Victor Nikiforov, Top Katsuki Yuuri, Top Victor Nikiforov, Viktor is basically a disney princess lets face it, Yuuri is in love with Viktors hair, mermaid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-09 07:01:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12882597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettythoughts_deadlymind/pseuds/prettythoughts_deadlymind
Summary: Katuski Yuuri lives in a small village in Japan where life is quiet and everyone knows everyone. His family wants to see him settle down but Yuuri fears that he is too awkward and his anxiety is too bad to find someone. When he encounters a rusalka, a mermaid from Russian folk lore, while skating everything changes in an instant. Yuuri might find himself plain and underwhelming, but this beautiful creature  who calls himself Viktor is anything but. The young Japanese skater fears he may lose himself to the feelings the rusalka inspires in him.





	1. Discoveries upon the ice

Snow fell thickly around him, cutting him off from the world and bringing with it that strange sound that one could only hear if they wanted to and held their breath for the longest of moments: the quiet of frozen flakes descending to the earth’s surface. It was a sound that was only awarded to those who knew how to appreciate silence and revel in it. It was something that Yuuri understood intimately. Due to his quiet nature and anxiety, which more often than not left him alone, he had learned that silence could make for good company. 

Beneath him, the ice was solid for at least several feet before it returned to liquid state, holding secrets of its own. Sometimes, the dark haired male liked to sit on the snowy lake shore and stare down into the ice, pretending he could see the shifting shapes of fish swimming below the surface, but an attempt at ice fishing the year before proved that either the fish left the lake in the winter or he was just very bad at fishing. Regardless, when he wasn't spending his time skating across its surface, the lake made for a wonderful place to let his imagination get the best of him in the cold winter months when it was abandoned by all but the occasional brave fisherman. 

And on the topic of fishing the frozen lake, earlier that day, before Yuuri had risen to skate, someone had come to the lake Yuuri considered his own and cut a large hole in it, just big enough for a man to slip into the cold water if they should so desire. When Yuuri saw it he wondered if whoever it was had better luck than he would at catching something. The rim of the hole had been dyed a bright red; whoever had cut the fishing hole had known that Yuuri was going to skate later and made sure he would see it and not skate into the water. When he stood over it, he could even see the places where snow had been packed down to hold the poles in place. Someone had sat to try their luck, it brought a rueful smile to his lips. 

Shoving gloved hands through his dark hair to dislodge the snow that had collected in it, Yuuri looked up at the snowing sky. He knew that sooner or later he would need to venture home to where his parents waited him. Returning to the village was never fun, returning to his parents was worse. The constant question of “when are you going to find a nice girl and settle down” was never ending, paired with comments about how he was either too attractive, too skilled, or too old to be alone still. What they didn't realize was that Yuuri was too awkward and too anxious to secure himself a suitable mate, and when someone did catch his eye...it was more often than not a man. He had lied to himself enough that now he was convinced that he was happy this way, solitude suited him.

But he pushed those thoughts away as he made to skate.The ice was his escape from those pressures, and he intended to make the most of it. 

Lowering himself to sit in the snow, he took his time lacing up his boots, knowing the better job he did of tying them, the less damage his feet would suffer, even if in the end it was inevitable. Satisfied that they were laced tight enough , he pulled his glasses from his face to tuck into his jacket. It was with a sigh that he pushed himself off the snowy bank and onto the frozen lake, gliding forward a few feet as his hands dusted snow off the seat of his pants. It was amazing to Yuuri how immediate his stress relief was when he actually found himself on the ice. As much as he loved his family, his true home was here on the ice, as lonely a place as it was.

Yuuri skated everyday in winter when the ice was thick enough to allow such a thing. It was the only thing that Yuuri felt he was any good at. He had learned the skill from a stranger who had been passing through his village when he was younger, he had introduced himself as Celestino with a stern look down at the Japanese boy he had taken upon himself to teach. Celestino had seen Yuuri dancing at a local studio in his village and had insisted that the young boy learn to dance upon the ice as well. Every other year or so the man traveled back to see how he was doing and teach him more so Yuuri could continue to grow his skill. The small Japanese male was ever so grateful to Celestino for doing it for him. By teaching Yuuri how to skate, Celestino had taught Yuuri to appreciate and find something about himself beautiful, and he claimed that beauty for himself here on the ice. 

Yuuri on land, with his family was awkward, uncomfortable with himself. Yuuri on ice was bold, confident, and capable. It was here in this world of ice and snow that Yuuri let go of his inhibitions to just be himself.

Yuuri was so caught up in his skating, the rest of the world disappeared. In his mind, he imagined the crowds and the excitement that his teacher had spoken about. About the larger villages --cities even --and the way they cheered as they watched people skate to beautiful music. Celestino had tried to get Yuuri to leave the village with him so they could train more regularly, attempting to lure Yuuri with promises of gold and adventures on the ice, but he had declined, deciding to stay here with his family. But as he skated, he liked to imagine what his life would be like if he had said yes all those years ago. He was so caught up, he failed to pay attention to the world around him, and yet all it took was one sound to return him to reality. 

He had just finished landing a toe loop when he heard it, quiet and excited: a gasp. Stumbling in shock at the unexpected sound, Yuuri fell to the ice, sliding in a circle on his ass before coming to a stop. Jerking to look over his shoulder, his gaze landed on the hole in the ice, “I-I'm sorry I didn't know you were coming back--” he cut off, having expected to see a fisherman readying himself to fish but that was not the sight that greeted him.

Yuuri must have hit his head when he fell because what he was looking at now was something he could barely describe. In the hole of the ice...was a man. No, an angel, soaking in the cold water exposed by the cut ice. Arms propped the man up on ice’s eye-catchingly red edge, arms that were bare and as pale as the surrounding snow. In fact...the man appeared to be wearing nothing more than a look of pure amazement upon his face, the rest of his body disappearing into the water exposed by the fishing hole. Hair the color of starlight, wet and heavy, molded to his head and clung to his neck until it touched the water, where it swirled and swayed, making the surface look like a mercury pool around the man the hair belonged to. It all framed a face made of perfect porcelain, topped off with eyes so blue the sky nearly wept with envy at the ultramarine color of them. 

Perfection. 

Yuuri struggled to breathe around the way he felt his chest empty as his heart was lost to the sight before him.

Mind reeling, Yuuri tried to figure out why a man would want to bathe in the ice cold water of the lake--why would a man soak in the lake knowing Yuuri was skating? And how did he get there without Yuuri noticing? Struggling to his feet,the dark haired male noticed that there were no clothes on the surrounding ice--then how? Puzzlement put a crease on the dark haired male’s forehead.

Head tipping to one side, the silver haired man offered an angelic smile, a slender hand pushing hair out of his face, a hand Yuuri failed to notice was delicately webbed. “I didn't know that humans liked the frozen water,” the voice was playful, and just as shocking as his presence, making Yuuri blush deeply in response. 

The silver haired creature had come to the surface upon hearing the sounds of the other hitting the ice with each jump he landed. The rusalka had not been able to investigate the sounds previously due to being trapped under the ice, but with the hole now cut into the surface and grabbing his attention with its bright colored edge, he found himself drawn to the surface. Had he known that there would be the most striking human doing the most unusual thing he had seen on the ice, he might have been a little faster to investigate. Humans so rarely caught his attention, but the one staring at him now from where he had fallen onto the ice was an except to the rule it would seem. The sight of Yuuri was even worth the burn of the air against his lungs, so much more powerful without the water to dilute it. 

“H-Humans?” Yuuri stammered out, becoming only more confused--what was this man implying? It made Yuuri’s brow crease in confusion as he narrowed his eyes, trying to see better, his glasses momentarily forgotten inside his jacket.

The silver haired male looked puzzled for a second before laughter burst from his lips, jovial and highly amused, making Yuuri admire the way those lips looked before he caught himself with a blush and the other explaining. “Yes, humans like you verse rusalka like me.” Blinking long silver lashes, he bit his lip, wondering if all humans in this region were this fair, or if his human was just an exception, regardless, he found he rather liked the awed look on this one’s face as he looked at him. The rusalka was a bit vain and rather enjoyed the sense of being appreciated, especially when it was someone as lovely as this. 

Yuuri had heard that term before from travelers who had come through his village before. Beautiful women of the water, they often made lands flourish and were known to seduce people to their deaths in some tales. But...they weren't suppose to be in these lands, all of those travelers had been from Russia...so how? “Rusalka aren't supposed to be in Japan.” He stately simply as if to call the other out on a lie. 

A soft sigh escaped the beautiful creature before him and Yuuri found himself standing just a few feet away from the hole in the ice, having skated closer without having realized it. His cinnamon colored eyes greedily drank the sight of the man in, letting his beauty wash over him like cold water on a hot day. 

“No...we aren't, but sometimes accidents happen and you find yourself trapped.” Thick, silver lashes lowered over the ocean blue of his eyes and a rueful smile formed on those pale lips. Understanding filled Yuuri’s own, remembering the landslide that had cut this lake off from the river that fed into the ocean. 

Blinking large chocolate eyes, Yuuri reached for his glasses that were tucked into his jacket to put them upon his face and nearly lost his breathe all over again. The creature created out of porcelain and starlight was too much for Yuuri to bear when he could see him in sharp detail like this. 

“Y-You got stuck here when the landslide happened, but how did you end up in this lake?”

The rusalka sighed, lowering silver lashes over his blue gaze once more, as if abashed, at these words. “Yes. The landslide trapped me here, as for how I ended up here, I guess you could say I fell fool to the game of pride,” the rusalka offered a shy, coquettish look at these words, a dusting of pink coloring his pale skin, perfecting his doll like image. He liked this human, desired him if he was bold and honest. So, biting his bottom lip, he offered a flutter of lashes, wanting to be desired as much he found himself wanting the male before him. “Do you have a name?”

The question seemed to fluster Yuuri, who looked down at his hands as if they held the answer to the ever so simple question, the blush which had begun to fade from his face rapidly returning to burn his cheeks once more. Even as Yuuri struggled for an answer, the blonde waited patiently in the icy water, looking up at Yuuri as if trying to memorize his face. 

Struggling for a breath that would simply not come, he finally answered. “K-Katsuki, Y-Yuuri...” From under a tangle of dark lashes, the human offered a look that was shockingly shy, so endearingly vulnerable that it made the rusalka want to launch himself out of the water to smother him in a protective embrace. 

“Yuuri~,” the name left the fair folk in a low purr, an accent becoming apparent with the name, making Yuuri realize that this creature surely had come from Russian waters. The realization dispelled some of the disbelieve the Japanese had been holding. The silver haired male’s lips formed a brilliant smile and his head cocked to one side with his delight, “my name is Viktor~”

Blinking large doe-like brown eyes, Yuuri found himself settling down on the ice, sitting so he might be closer and not quite towering over the other. “Viktor,” the name tasted bold and demanding on his tongue, much like how those blue eyes commanded his attention when they rested upon him. 

Viktor blinked when the human sat just out of arm’s reach from him, and with curiosity painted upon his face, half hauled himself out of the water to touch a single finger to the well used blade of Yuuri’s left skate. So awed was he by the skate, he had failed to notice how Yuuri’s eyes had widened, taking in the delicate white scales that began after the ve of the rusalka’s hips, colors flickering in each scale like a tiny rainbow of fire, and sheer, delicate fins protruding from the back line of his tail. “What are these things which allow you to command the ice as you do?” Blue eyes looked up from the skate only to cause Viktor’s face to crease into a frown when he realized Yuuri was paying his question no mind. 

The human blinked, startled back to the question when Viktor whined out his name, oblivious to where Yuuri’s true attention lied, ensnared by the less than human half of this beautiful creature. “I-I...um...those are called ice skates. My coach brings me a new pair every year...Um, Viktor?” 

“Skates you say? Mm, yes, zvyozdochka?” It was only with his question answered that he realized Yuuri was staring at his tail, and Viktor gave pause, looking over a shoulder plastered with wet silver hair to look at it too, trying to see it as the human surely must. “Does it bother you? Seeing it and knowing I'm not human?” As he posed the question, he stretched and fluttered his dorsal fin, allowing it to catch the light.

A meeting of gazes revealed a strange vulnerability in the rusalka’s blue eyes, as if Yuuri’s opinion mattered a great deal to him. It was a unique sensation to have his opinion mean much of anything to anyone, and Yuuri sat back, extending a leg forward as he pondered his answer, not wanting to word it incorrectly. 

“No,” Yuuri finally breathed out, watching the way the fair folk idly traced the shape of the skate, his slender fingers testing its sharp edge. “I’ve just never see anything like you before.” 

A glance up revealed that Viktor was watching him with a look on that elegant face that Yuuri couldn't quite put a name on, his silver hair beginning to frost over from the chill in the air. What Yuuri didn't know, was that Viktor had spent the last three months in this lake alone, cut off from everyone. When the lake had frozen over, Viktor had been unable to even visit the surface to speak to the animals that came to the water’s frozen edge. The Rusalka was a social creature, and in his prime. As a result, whether Viktor was entirely aware of it or not, he was looking for a mate, someone to call his own. The idea that Yuuri could be disturbed by his nature and reject him weighed heavily upon the mer.

So, carefully, Viktor pulled himself up onto the ice, letting more of his tail come into view as he sat upon the edge. “We aren’t too common nowadays, rusalkas, especially males.” Viktor explained, letting Yuuri look before slipping back into the water for fear of his wet skin and scales freezing onto the ice.

A quiet wow escaped the japanese male. Rising to stand on his skates, he raised a single hand to the sky before making eye contact with the male before him, “please watch me?” Yuuri bit his lip shyly after asking, inspired by Viktor’s beauty, he felt the desire to skate once more, to show this creature that in a way, he could come close to being beautiful too. 

Viktor responded with a nodd, blue eyes widening with curiosity and awe before Yuuri began to music that wasn't there. The rusalka didn't need to hear the music however, not with the way that the human created it with his body. Yuuri moved with the very passion that Viktor realized had been missing for far too long in his own life. Sure, he might be well known back home and have a legacy that he’d rather not think of in this moment, but it had begun to lose its meaning. Life had begun to lose its meaning, but here, watching Yuuri skate for him...Viktor felt it all once more. 

This movement, this dancing of the ice was where Yuuri was laid bare, and Viktor was getting to see it all. It made him want to lay claim to the other in some way. To covet his beauty and the emotions he so readily inspired in the rusalka. So when Yuuri finished, breathing hard, Viktor clapped his appreciation, the webbing of his hands making the sound loud as it traveled across the ice.  
“How many people have gotten to see you skate?”

“Just the man who taught me, my parents, and my dance teacher...” this answer made Viktor blink in shock, how did Yuuri not share this beauty with everyone else? It made him feel undeniably lucky that Yuuri had asked him to watch. 

Unfortunately, it was then that Yuuri realized that the sky was darkening and he should be getting home, he had arrived at the ice far later than he did normally. Sliding forward to stand before the fisherman’s hole where Viktor tread water, looking down at the beautiful creature before him. “I-I have to go! But I’ll be back....”

And it was all Viktor could do to say an excited “ok” before Yuuri had skated across the pond and Viktor could talk to him no more. It was with sorrow and hope in his heart that he watched the human go. 

 

As promised, Yuuri returned. It was early into the morning and Viktor rose from the water at the unsure calling of his name. “How was your night?” Yuuri inquired as soon as he was sitting on the ice to lace his skates, curious as to what Viktor did under the ice. He had never really given much thought before to what was hidden below the water and ice, but he had new reason to be curious now. 

“Most uneventful. It might have been a little better if I had some company,” the words left Viktors lips with a smile and a wink of a blue eye, making Yuuri’s own widen in surprise at the flirtation. But in Yuuri’s mind, the other was only expressing his loneliness, not a desire for Yuuri because why would he?

Viktor rose to watch him skate. Yuuri even brought an old blanket to lay on the ice’s edge so the rusalka could lay half out on the ice without having to worry about freezing onto its surface. Exposed to the brightening light of day, his tail was impossibly bright, casting colors of splintered light on the surrounding ice. 

As Yuuri skated, Viktor offered his thoughts and advice, smiling as the other grew more bold after each success that followed. In between 30 minute periods of skating, Yuuri would come and sit beside him and they would talk. They talked about everything and nothing, mostly they talked about Yuuri’s journey learning how to skate over the past ten years. Viktor liked watching the glow on the others face as he explained his history with the sport, and comforted him when Yuuri grew dispirited discussing his past shortcomings with it. 

When their day finally came to an end, it was far too soon as far as Viktor was concerned. “Must you go so soon?”

Yuuri grimaced in response. “Yeah, my village is having a festival today and my parents made me promise I would go. They said something about me possibly finding someone there.” He sighed and shook his head, guiding his glasses back into place on his nose, oblivious to the look of jealousy that flashed across the rusalka’s face. 

“Well...have fun but don't forget about me in all of the excitement,” Viktor prompted, offering a shy smile as he did so, reaching out to grasp Yuuri’s hand as he did so.

Blushing, Yuuri looked at their joined hands. “I wont, I promise. I’ll be back tomorrow, ok?” 

 

So when Yuuri came to the lake again on that third night, when the sun was gone and the world was dark, Viktor was surprised. Viktor only knew he was back because Yuuri was all but yelling his name.The Rusalka had been sitting on the ice’s edge where Yuuri had forgotten to take the blanket back home with him, running a comb carefully through the wet strands of his silver hair. His pale face had been turned up towards the full moon when he finally realized that Yuuri was back...and drunk. 

“Viktor,” Yuuri greeted loudly, plopping down onto the ice with little care, leaning forward until he could stare into the other’s gaze, but without proper lighting the blue failed to show, offering the fey a dark and unintentionally alluring gaze. In the darkness, Viktors pale skin and silver hair nearly glowed, the moon providing just enough light to see. “You! You are sooo pretty!” A drunken giggle followed those words, Yuuri biting his bottom lip as he gazed hungrily at the fair folk. 

Amusement played upon the rusalka’s face, and worry shone in his gaze. “You’re drunk, Yuuri, you should go home...” setting his comb aside, he reached out a careful hand in case the human needed steadying, Yuuri was swaying slightly where he sat just an arm’s length away. 

A pout formed on the human’s lips and he continued to lean forward, placing a hand upon the damp skin of Viktor’s shoulder to steady himself, ignoring the other’s hand which was extended as a safeguard for him. In his drunken state, Yuuri didn't care that Viktor wasn't human and might not even want him. Yuuri wanted him. Wanted to be close to him and to finally touch him at last, and Viktor’s skin was so impossibly soft under his hand, despite how cold the water made the rusalka’s skin. 

Under his warm hand, Viktor trembled, want burning hot in his body, dampened down only by the other’s intoxication. “Yuuri...please...don't do this, you’re not well...”

“You don't want me here? But I want to be here! I want you to be with me!” Swaying slightly, Yuuri’s words were said slowly, his tone made sultry by alcohol’s influence. 

“I am with you, every time you come here to the ice I spend time with--”

“No! I want you. I want you to be with me always, not just here. I'm so lonely, but not with you.” Brown eyes were fever bright in his pale, moonlit face, interrupting the other with no care for politeness. His hand slid from damp shoulder to the rusalka’s slender neck, plastered with wet hair, drawing him close so Yuuri’s breath could wash over that porcelain face.

After a day of gentle flirting and receiving no indication of whether or not Yuuri had noticed the rusalka’s courtship of him...this was almost too much. Everything about the dark haired male’s body said that he wanted Viktor--everything except that drunken sway which ruined it all. Curiosity burned a hole in the mer’s heart as he wondered just how much of this was truth spilling from the others lips. 

Hesitating, he fought to ignore the warmth of that hand steadily grasping his neck, the way delicate fingers scratched at the slicked back hair that stuck to it and his shoulders. If Yuuri had any idea what that touch did to him, Viktor highly doubted that Yuuri would be touching him at all.

Yuuri, on the other hand, would have been a blushing mess had he been sober. It had only taken a day for him to develop quite the crush on this beautiful creature. He relished the time he stole to spend with Viktor. The words he spoke weren’t a lie, but they were secrets he had intended to hold close to his heart. And when he woke up tomorrow, for all he knew they would still be secrets thanks to a few too many drinks. “I want you to be mine...” Yuuri murmured once before finally moving out of Viktor’s personal space and standing up on shaky legs. Worry flooded Viktor and he wondered if the other would make it home safely, much less off the lake without falling.

“Yuuri....” he called after him as the human drunkenly stumbled away from the fishing hole in the lake, and away from Viktor. Yuuri gave pause, looking over one shoulder, “I'm already yours,” Viktor finished, and Yuuri offered him a heart breakingly beautiful smile before turning to continue on his way.

Viktor waited, but Yuuri didn't come back to skate that next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is that for a cliff hanger! I'll try to upload the next chapter sometime next week! Kudos, comments, and feed back is always welcomed!


	2. Closer to home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Yuuri fails to return to the ice, a worried rusalka takes matters into his own hands.

The day after the festival, Yuuri awoke with a pounding headache and a long list of duties to complete at the hot springs. For all the fun that was had at a party, it was doubled in the amount of mess that was formed after and needed to be cleaned. From scrubbing the floors, to shoveling snow, Yuuri worked, all the while silently lamenting the the massive hangover he was suffering from. He felt the workload would never end, but his parents chatted happily about the business the festival had brought them, so he couldn't find it in himself to voice his complaints. He knew all too well that Yu-Topia, his family’s hot spring had begun to struggle, so a night of great business was nothing to complain about.

When he was done, it was late, the sky dark and cold, and he was too tired to return to the lake. So with a heavy heart at not having seen Viktor that day, he went to bed, his last thoughts being that he would have to apologize to the rusalka when he finally made it to the lake once more.

A knock was his wake up call the next morning. “You shouldn’t hole up in your room! Its nearly one in the afternoon, you should be getting up, Yuuri!” Yuuri’s mother, Hiroko, called, “it also snowed again! Your father will be needing help with the shoveling!”A moment passed and Yuuri failed to be roused. 

Giving a soft sigh and shaking her head at her son’s lack of a response, Hiroko tried again, speaking a bit louder. “Yuuri? Yuuri, honey, also why didn't you tell me you had a guest coming?” Deciding that if the time of day couldn't encourage her son to rise maybe informing him that he was keeping someone waiting would.

Finally, Yuuri stirred, sore and tired after all the work he had done the previous to day to clean up. At least his hangover had passed--just how much did he have to drink last night? He gave a shudder just thinking about it.

As his thoughts cleared a question came to mind: guest? He didn't have any guests because he didn't have any friends, not really. So sitting up, he rubbed a hand through his thick hair before patting it flat against his forehead. “Guest,” he called back sleepily in question, struggling into some pants and a shirt, “I don't have any guests...”

“Well there is a beautiful foreigner here with the most ethereal silver hair--and he came naked!” A girlish giggle escaped Hiroko, and on the other side of the door, she blushed and hid her smile behind her hand. She remembered the way the stranger had looked so confused when Yuuri’s father, Toshiya, had shoved some of the onsen robes at him, studiously looking away, taking them all the while not pausing in his inquires about their son.

In a flurry of shock, Yuuri found himself yanking open the door to his room to see his mom standing there, eyes now wide with surprise. “Where is he?” He doesn't even wait for the full answer before he’s taking off, running down the hallways of the onsen to find the mermaid.

Behind him, his mother stared after him with a look of quiet shock before it dissolved into one of wonder and questioning. 

Yuuri found Viktor at a table with his father and sister, now clothed in one of the bath house robes--had he really shown up naked? Oh god...any anyone else seen Viktor before he had reached Yu-Topia, his family’s hot spring? A jealous, possessiveness Yuuri didn't know existed in him, reared its head, he didn't want anyone to see Viktor naked! He hadn’t even gotten to see him naked-- n-not that he wanted to! 

In the domestic setting, the rusalka looked out of place, a god among mortals. His long hair was a spill of finely spun silver cascading down his back. Viktor’s skin was as pale as freshly fallen snow upon which his blue eyes were a sharp and startling contrast, all together it was an enchanting and lovely combination. If Yuuri didn't know that Viktor was a rusalka, the Japanese male would have thought the silver haired creature to be an angel. Yuuri was shocked that his family was sitting and talking with him so normally--couldn't they tell that this wasn't a man but one of the fair folk? Something far too beautiful to belong to the human race? For a heart racing second, he was worried his family would look up and demand to know what Yuuri was doing bringing fey into their hot springs. Instead, they continued to eat and chat, not yet noticing that Yuuri now stood in the doorway. 

The minute Yuuri walked into that room, however, Viktor’s head snapped up so blue eyes could rest upon him. The look on the rusalka’s face was one of relief, like the mer had been quietly suffering before Yuuri’s entrance into the room. It made the smaller male’s heart stop and restart at a frighteningly fast pace. The pace of his heart was not helped by the soft and adoring smile that spread upon the creature's face. Never before in his life had anyone inspired in Yuuri such tender emotions, nor the desire to be close to them. Viktor did all those things and then some-- and Yuuri hardly knew him.

“Yuuri!” The mer all but cooed, standing in a single fluid movement so he could walk over to where the man stood. With no preamble, Viktor gathered Yuuri into his arms as if he had done it thousands of times before. The smaller male stiffened, not having expected the physical contact.

How was Viktor here? And how did he have legs, the questions slowly built up in his mind as he panicked over the sudden source of physical contact. Briefly Yuuri’s mind flashed to the white opal tail with its delicate fins that had previously made up the other’s lower half back at the frozen lake. 

Around him, his family stared with wide eyes, having never seen Yuuri make such contact with much of anyone. It didn't matter that Yuuri wasn't reciprocating the affection, he was allowing it and that alone was more than his family had seen before of him. Everyone in the family could count on both hands the number of times they had tried to set the young man up with a nice girl and seen it fail.It never passed any of their minds that Yuuri might have needed a man all this time. Now that they were seeing Yuuri being embraced so lovingly by one, it made too much sense to the Katuski family.

Viktor couldn't bring himself to not touch Yuuri now that he had the legs to bring himself close enough to the human male to do it. After being alone in that lake for so long, just having the human male around him once more filled Viktor with the most brilliantly burning feeling of joy and passion, something that had been missing from his life for longer than he cared to admit. He expressed this with his embrace, warm and intimate, burying his face in the Japanese male’s hair to learn his scent. Had he known it would make Yuuri react with so much discomfort, he might have found the strength within himself to refrain. For now, he simply held the human in ignorant bliss.

And Yuuri....Yuuri hated how much he loved it, how incredibly warm and cherished this embrace made him feel because he didn't deserve it. And how long could something like this possibly last if Viktor wasn't a human like those around him thought? Surely the rusalka would want to return to the lake when he grew bored of Yuuri? And there was no doubt in the human’s mind that the rusalka would grow bored of him, Yuuri was only painfully aware of how lackluster he was. Until that time came, however, he would enjoy the unexpected embrace even if he had no idea how to respond to it appropriately. 

Pulling back when he failed to feel Yuuri relax, Viktor looked into Yuuri’s brown eyes. Bold and claiming, slender fingers, now webbing free, ran through Yuuri’s dark hair with a motion that implied intimacy and familiarity, each pass through the dark hair was filled with an unspoken reverence. At least, Yuuri wanted to read that much into it. “W-What are you doing here, Viktor?” 

That beautiful face was eclipsed by sadness as Viktor replied as if that mere question hurt him, “you never came back to the lake, so I came here to find you! Now we can be together, zolotse!” As he finished he brightened as if the sun was breaking across the sky of his face, and Viktor clutched the smaller male to him once more, causing Yuuri to let out a small squeak of surprise. 

“Yuuri-chan! Have you been holding out on us,” his mother tsked, moving back into the room to sit once more at the kotatsu table, delight sparkling upon her face as she realized what this man must be to Yuuri based off his words. “And all those times I believed when you said you were just going to skate!” Her tone of voice was reproachful but also filled with an undertone of delight.

Flushing brilliantly, Yuuri stuttered a complaint, “I-I was!” But it was hard to focus with Viktor being so close and so warm, his slender hands still caught in Yuuri’s hair, it made him jealous because he so badly wanted to touch in turn but he couldn't. Yuuri wasn't ready to confirm what his parents believed nor was he ready to surrender to such delicate feelings for one who was only going to leave him in the end.

Somehow though...he finds himself with a lock of Viktor’s hair between his fingers as Viktor moves away from him. It’s almost as if Yuuri wanted to hold him close for but a moment longer, reaching out for the long lock of hair that had clung to his arm without thinking. The hair slipped from Yuuri’s fingers as Viktor moved to sit once more at the kotatsu table, a bowl of katsudon sitting half eaten on top. With a single dip of his shoulder, Viktor swung all of that silver mane over his shoulder so it tumbled down his back to end right before his hips. It struck Yuuri then that it was his first time seeing the silver locks dry, and he wondered why this realization mattered so much to him.

When he finally sat at the table with them, Yuuri looked to the male who held everyone’s attention. “How long will you be visiting, Viktor?”

The rusalka slowed in his eating. A heaviness settled in Viktor’s heart and he wondered how the dark haired male would respond if he told him the truth. Biting his lip, Viktor couldn't help but see how Yuuri watched the movement and a warmth blossomed in him, perhaps the human would be amenable after all.

Viktor worried Yuuri was uninterested after he failed to return his earlier affections. To be honest, Viktor had hoped the other would be delighted to see him here, human for the most part, but Yuuri’s response had left a lot to be desired. So, letting a light laugh leave his lips, he offered a dazzling smile. “I plan to stay for a while, zolotse!” The words spoke only of his excitement to be here, and not of his insecurities. 

Yuuri was trying so hard to keep his heart in his chest. He wanted to blame his attraction to the other male on his being a rusalka, but Yuuri knew he would be lying to himself if he did. Viktor was...brilliant, the sun dawning upon his life and it scared him how good the others warmth felt upon his skin, even as metaphorical as it was. Yuuri had done some reading when he got home after meeting the Rusalka that first day, and from what he had read, Viktor hadn’t used any rusalka magic on him, so it was safe to stay that everything Yuuri felt for him was completely his own. It was a realization that both soothed and scared him. 

Mari, Yuuri’s sister, now gave the rusalka a second glance, reevaluating him after the display of affection he had just bestowed upon her brother. “Huh,” she stated to no one in particular before turning to Yuuri who was looking at her with the beginnings of alarm upon his face, “don't know how you managed this one, but you have good taste for sure. I guess that explains why you always acted like you were uninterested in everyone else. You have some high standards, Yuuri.” 

Mari’s dark eyes fell appraisingly upon the rusalka once more, nodding her approval.

Beside the dark haired male, Viktor was looking at Mari in return as she spoke, absorbing this information and all it implied. He was relieved to know that Yuuri didn't already have someone, but the comment about high standards briefly made him worry if he would be good enough for Yuuri. Turning his glance upon him, he watched Yuuri meet his gaze just for the human’s cheeks to burn with a blush. Viktor wanted nothing more than to touch his fingers to the pink tinged skin. 

“Yuuri,”Viktor caved, reaching out a slender hand to gently touch the others thigh to hold his attention, “perhaps you could show me around after this?” Blue eyes shone with hope from behind the silver locks that had fallen into his face before they were impatiently pushed back.

Relief swept through the dark haired male at this request, it was an excuse to leave, to escape his family and their judgement and their preconceived notions about him and Viktor. They bothered him because he wished he could say that they were true. That he could reach over and grasp a handful of that moonlight colored hair and smile as he gazed into blue eyes, all the while telling his parents that his search was over. He had found someone who loved him and didn't care about his anxiety, but simply wanted and loved him. Instead, he had an ember set in the empty place where the heart the rusalka had stolen was. All it would take was a breath of hope to cause it to burst into flames of emotions too strong to tame. 

It scared him. 

Viktor was not here for him to claim. 

So, offering a sharp nod, he rose to his feet, leaving the rusalka to sit on the floor with his family. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” forcing himself to breathe around the stress of the situation presented him, Yuuri offered a blushing smile. Yuuri was most certainly not imagining them stepping into the hall only for Vitkor to push him against the wall and steal his first kiss. Yuuri was most certainly not imagining wrapping the length of that silver hair around his fist to trap the rusalka close to him.

Oblivious to the thoughts in Yuuri’s head, Vitkor returned the smile with one so blinding, Yuuri had to blink and adjust his glasses on his face. “I can be ready now if you want to leave,” Viktor offered. His head cocked to one side, hair spilling over his shoulder before he was standing and bowing to Yuuri’s family. “Thank you for feeding me and letting me stay in your home...” before turning to the male who held his attention so completely. 

Following Viktor’s example, Yuuri offered his family a quick bow and without thinking, grasped Viktor’s hand to pull him from the room. Behind them, Yuuri could hear his sister call after them “if you do anything do it in your own bed! I'm not cleaning that mess up!” and the sounds of his parents scandalized reprimanding. 

The minute they were alone in the hall, the human dropped the rusalka’s hand, missing the way Viktor’s face fell in response, moving to hold the now cold and empty hand to his chest for a brief second. Comforting himself after the loss of contact with the human Viktor hoped to one day claim as his mate.

When Yuuri made to lead him down the hall with a shy shrug, Viktor moved to follow. They walked in silence like that until Yuuri began his tour, pointing out the baths, the kitchen, the various rooms, and then eventually leading them out towards the springs. Yuuri explained each thing in a low tone of voice, causing Viktor to have to lean in to hear him, which only caused Yuuri to blush and become more flustered.

When they stepped outside into the hot springs, the rusalka stopped, closing his eyes and breathing in the heavy scent of moisture. The air was hot and humid, with steam rising up from the waters, so different from the iced over pond where they had met. It made the rusalka’s legs burn with the urge to change, the water calling to him more strongly than he could ever hope to explain. The only thing that appealed to him more than the hot spring waters was the shy human beside him. For Yuuri, he would have given up the water’s call completely. 

Moving away from Yuuri, Viktor sat at the bath’s edge, reaching out to gently touch the water. When his fingers made contact with the hot spring’s surface, blue eyes closed and silver lashes kissed high cheek bones as a serene expression crossed Viktor’s face. Viktor let out a sigh before looking over his shoulder at the human once more. Yuuri was looking at him in a way that implied desire, want, hunger-- it confused him. Yuuri gazed at Viktor as if he wanted him, but responded to him physically as if Viktor repulsed him. Although, if what he had heard earlier was any indication, Yuuri was a stranger to physical intimacy. Did he not want to be physical? Or did he simply not want to be physical with the rusalka, it was a question that Viktor worried at in his mind. 

“Why are you here, Viktor?” Yuuri asked, taking a step closer, trying not to imagine Viktor shedding his onsen robes to step into the bath just to transform back into his true form. Trying not to imagine how that pale skin would look in the low lights of the bath...would it flush in the heat of the water? Yuuri found himself blushing at his own wandering thoughts.

Standing, the rusalka moved to stand in the human’s personal space, hands coming up to frame Yuuri’s face but refraining from touching. Instead they hovered on either side of his pale cheeks in the silent promise of a gentle embrace. Viktor wanted nothing more than to hold him, to whisper to him how beautiful he was and just how badly he wanted Yuuri to want him. Regardless of what he wanted, however, Viktor wouldn't touch Yuuri if that’s not what the human wanted, so instead he let himself imagine instead.

“Isn’t that obvious? I came here because I want to be with you.”

Letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, Yuuri looked into those blue eyes, reading in them how badly the other male craved touch. Viktor looked at Yuuri as if the distance between his fingers and his face was painful to him, and it scared Yuuri how badly he wanted to beg Viktor to touch him. To burn his flesh with demanding hands that groped and grabbed. So, carefully, he stepped away, heart racing.Would he ever grow use to thinking such bold things? He had heard Mari talking about such feelings, but had never experienced them himself before Viktor. 

Struggling to contain himself, embarrassed by his own desires, Yuuri spoke. “Why? Why me?” 

Viktor’s smile faded when the human all but ran away from him. A loneliness swept over him, and it showed in his porcelain perfect face, and Yuuri imagined that the silver of his complexion dulled, as if a light inside him had begun to die. The change was drastic, and it shocked Yuuri that his rejection could impact Viktor so heavily.

“You--you inspire me,” Viktor began, looking out over the water of the springs as he spoke, his accent thickening with the emotions that painted his words a delicate shade of burning blue. “To be honest...I could have walked around that landslide weeks ago, but I didn't. I didn't because there is nothing for me back home except people who expect so much out of me. I can't give them that because I have no passion to fuel myself. No inspiration. But you! Seeing you dance on the ice like that...” 

Blue eyes closed and silver lashes casted reaching shadows upon high cheek bones once more, fluttering against the pale skin stretched over them. The rusalka let out a shuddering breath that spoke of repressed desire, of passion carefully reined in, emotion that reached depths which knew no words. At his sides, Viktor’s hands curled into fists before rising to card through his hair, knotting in silver strands in a display that was moving and shockingly erotic, making Yuuri blush and want nothing more than to join Viktor in holding that silver hair, to own a piece of him, to claim some of that unbridled passion for himself.

Opening blue eyes after a long moment of standing there, breathing heavily and trying to rein himself back in enough to form words, Viktor commanded Yuuri’s own gaze in return. Viktor held the eye contact even as the tension bled from him, leaving him vulnerable. In place of that burning passion, the loneliness returned only to be quickly burned away by something new: hope.

Continuing his explanation in a soft, accented voice, he smiled. “But you inspire me, and make me want to be passionate once more. So I left that lake to find you here...I had only taken on human form once before. It was on a dare as a child. Doing so again now, by myself, it was exciting-- scary even-- but it was the only thing that would bring me to you.” Viktor quieted himself, feeling he had said too much. He didn't want Yuuri to think of him as weak. 

Stunned, Yuuri stood there, mouth slightly agape and moved beyond words. 

Cocking his head, Viktor laughed quietly, lips quirking into a smirk. “You don't see it, do you? Your own worth? Your own beauty?” The conclusion was easy to come to, especially upon seeing the questioning doubt that had built in those cinnamon colored eyes that he adored so much.

“T-there is nothing to see...”

Moving forward, Viktor grasped the human’s hand, guiding him over to the bath’s edge and gently urging him to sit there so Yuuri might look at his own reflection in the water. When he was sure that Yuuri would stay put, Viktor reached his own hands into the water before reaching for the dark hair that crowned the human’s head. With great care, he used the water on his hands to slick the dark hair back, revealing all of that heart shaped face. Not wanting to overwhelm Yuuri, he pulled his hands away when he was done, leaving the other’s glasses in place. For a long moment, he sat in silence just behind him, looking over the human’s shoulder so he too might gaze upon Yuuri’s reflection.

In the still water, he saw a pale, heart shaped face. Large eyes full of questions, and a delicate mouth parted to form those very questions. The human was slight of build, but Viktor knew from the embrace that he had stolen that Yuuri’s body was strong and capable. Their conversations on the ice informed him that Yuuri was smart, caring, and compassionate beyond belief. When Viktor looked at Yuuri’s reflection, he saw a human deserving of love and not seeing himself as worthy. Viktor saw someone who knew only his own self doubts, and the rusalka desperately wanted to show Yuuri that he was so much more.

“There is a lot to see when it’s not hidden away. When you think no one is looking --yourself included-- there is so much beauty inside you that gets to be seen.” Viktor explained softly, and then hesitated, feeling vulnerable, “I want to see it all...I want to show it to you.”

A fond smile formed on pale lips, and Viktor tipped his head to one side, watching his words sink into that beautiful head of dark hair. He could practically see Yuuri digest the words, turning each one over to find any form of insincerity and finding none.

Turning away from his reflection, Yuuri finally let himself reach out to the other, a hand gently grasping the front of the robes Viktor wore. “Then I want you to never take your eyes off me,” he breathed, flushing when Yuuri noticed how little space there was between them. He wanted to believe Viktor, to take him up on his impossible offer because that meant that in some way, Viktor was agreeing to be his. Yuuri shifted his hand until it was soft and open over Viktor’s chest, finding the creature’s heart beat under his warm skin and the onsen robes. “Don't ever take your eyes off of me.” 

A look so tender broke out across the creature’s beautiful face, rendering it so impossibly strong and devoted. “I will never look anywhere else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for being patient and sticking around for another chapter! Also if you've already read chapter 1, I would recommend giving it a second look! I might have gotten a little carried away and revisted and added to it! Thank you so much for reading! I hope to have the next chapter out in a week or two! Comments help inspire me and kudos are always welcome! I hope you continue to enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy reading it! 
> 
> Also! For some reason, its putting last chapters note at the bottom of this chapter too! (For me at least) So if you see that my apologizes! Im trying to figure it out and fix it!


	3. To reach for what we can not touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor and Yuuri slowly begin to fall into the pattern of life with one another around. Yuuri's anxiety gets the best of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for sticking with me and reaching this still! I appreciate it and it inspires me to keep writing! Also, if I were to write a OtaYuri fic...would anyone be interested? It would probably just be a little one shot! Lemme know in the comments!

After that moment sitting beside the hot spring waters, there was an unspoken trust between them due largely in part to Yuuri finally letting himself believe that just maybe Viktor was going to stay. He had no way of knowing that in a drunken state that he had told the rusalka that Yuuri wanted him for his own. Nor did he have any way of knowing that the fair folk had taken those words to heart, deciding to dedicate himself to the beautiful human who spent his time upon the ice. Yuuri had asked Viktor to give himself, and the rusalka did just that. 

So they spent the days together falling into an easy pattern. Viktor would rise early, and wake Yuuri by knocking on his door, and together they would walk to the ice of the frozen lake that had brought them together. Viktor sat on the ice to watch and coach offering what advice he could. Yuuri skated until his feet hurt and he couldn't do anymore without hurting himself. Each time Yuuri took off his skates to reveal his bruised, cut, and aching feet, Viktor would gently take each one between his hands, brow creasing in concern over the damage. Every time he did so, Yuuri would blush furiously before pulling his feet out of Viktor’s hands and tell him not to worry. Viktor worried over him the way a lover might, and it made Yuuri’s heart unruly in his chest, so he tried to discourage Viktor from doing such things. 

Conversing, they would then return to the onsen to do whatever chores needed to be completed. Chores consisted mostly of Yuuri cleaning while Hiroko hoarded Viktor away to the kitchens where Viktor tied his hair up to help out or Mari making Viktor strip beds with her, talking idly about everything and nothing. It turned out that the Katuski family was almost as fond of Viktor as Yuuri himself secretly was, and Hiroko treated Viktor like she might a son-in-law. 

It was simple, and it was easy. Soon a week had passed since Viktor had come to Yutopia and although Yuuri could never grow use to Viktor being around all the time, he couldn't help the feeling that they were always meant to be like this. Yuuri even found himself forgetting that Viktor wasn't human sometimes. 

And then there were times where it was impossible to forget. Yuuri would never forget the morning when Hiroko had asked Viktor to grab water from the well and Yuuri had looked out the window to see Viktor being followed by a sika deer. From the window, Yuuri could tell that the rusalka was chatting quiet animatedly to the animal, a hand resting on a spotted shoulder, every once in awhile the deer would bob it’s antlered head as if in response. It had happened a few times before, Viktor would be helping to shovel snow or some other mundane chore outside and Yuuri would look over to see birds sitting on the rusalka’s shoulders as the long haired male chatted away happily, oblivious to the scene he was creating. It was moments like this that forced Yuuri to remember all over again that Viktor was anything but human. It was also moments like this that made Yuuri covet him, never allowing for Viktor to do chores where people might see him and discover the truth of what he was. So, human or not, Yuuri fell in love with Viktor a little more each day despite himself--not that Yuuri even knew yet that what he felt was love. 

When Viktor returned from the kitchen after fetching water the evening of the seventh day, the rusalka made to sit on the floor beside Yuuri where the human was taking a break after his chores and before dinner was ready.

Yuuri was tempted to ask about the deer -- a glimpse out the window had revealed that it still joined Viktor in fetching water each day-- but instead found himself saying something quite different instead, approaching a topic which had been bothering him since Viktor had arrived so unexpectedly at Yu-Topia. 

“I'm sorry!”

Viktor looked up, surprised at the way that Yuuri had chosen to break the silence they sat in, relaxing together. Pale brows drew together over the blue of his gaze, “and why is that?” The rusalka’s hair had started to come loose from where it was pulled back into a ponytail, a few stray sections now framed his questioning visage.

Yuuri offered him a flustered look before looking quickly at the ground. He was embarrassed. “For my family assuming that we’re together.” The smaller male drew his bottom lip between his teeth to worry on it for a brief moment until the rusalka replied. Yuuri worried that Viktor would be upset, having no desire to be claimed by him without permission. 

“There are worse things for them to assume--does the idea of others thinking I belong to you displease you?” Worry made the rusalka’s heart sink even as his tone remained light and teasing, “and to think I gave up my natural form to be here with you.” The last sentence was said in a light tone, but Viktor stilled worried. Yuuri had told Viktor he wanted him, had he changed his mind? (He tried his hardest to forget that Yuuri had been drunk when he said those words. That meant there was a possibility the human hadnt meant them.) Did he no longer want the rusalka now that his tail was gone? It had never once occurred to Viktor that taking on a human form might displease the one human he wanted as his mate and now Viktor was left to question his decision. 

Warm chocolate colored eyes widened with alarm, and Yuuri turned sharply to look at Viktor. His hands grasped the mermaid’s forearms firmly and when Yuuri spoke, it was with a panic laced tone. “You, you didn’t! Not forever? Not for me!” The idea of the rusalka giving up such a large part of himself...forever...for him made Yuuri feel vastly uncomfortable, like he was stealing something treasured from the world. It was enough to make Yuuri completely forget about what they had been previously discussing, the topic exchanged for something he considered to be far more serious an issue.

“No,” Viktor, murmured, a quiet sadness sweeping across his face, “I can return to my natural form.” It would grow harder to make the shift back and forth the longer he stayed in this form. The longer he stayed human, the more his connection to the water would wane until it would eventually die out altogether if Yuuri truly chose him. Viktor would not burden him with such knowledge. He would not risk the human rejecting him because Yuuri was selfless. If Yuuri was selfless, than Viktor was impossibly selfish, wanting to do whatever he could to persuade the human into giving him some sort of clue that he wanted Viktor. 

Relief swept across Yuuri at such lengths that he failed to see the sorrow that crossed the beautiful man’s face. Hesitating for but a moment, Yuuri threw his arms around the taller male’s waist and clutched Viktor close. It was the first time that Yuuri had initiated contact between them and it made the mermaid’s blue eyes light up. Brushing long silver hair out of his face, Viktor made to hug the human in turn. “I appreciate your compassion...but if you had been alone for as long as I had, you would realize that the water is only too easy to give up.”

“I know what it means to be alone, but I'm not worth giving up something you love--such a large part of yourself.” Yuuri murmured, face buried in Viktor’s neck, inhaling the rich scent of his skin like the ocean and home all rolled into one. 

Laughter, soft and warm escaped Viktor and he shook his head. “When will you learn to see yourself as you truly are instead of in this strange, broken way? Your anxiety and past shortcomings don't define you.” Pulling back, he rested his forehead against the human’s, long hair falling forward to create a veil around them, the hair tie having finally lost the battle of keeping all that moonlite hair confined. “I promised not to take my eyes off you, if anyone can see what you’re worth...it’s me, Yuuri.”

Brown eyes, soft and glossy with tears stared up at Viktor, “thank you.” 

Viktor wanted nothing more than to kiss him in that moment, to seal his words with tender affection, but Yuuri had made no move towards showing Viktor that he was interested despite that drunken night on the ice. “Come on, let’s go walk outside....”

“Will you introduce me to the sika?”

Blue eyes turned upon the human in surprise, a smirk forming upon those sensual lips, “you saw that, did you?” Viktor inquired with a quirk of his brow.

Yuuri offered a blush in way of a confession.

Viktor laughed, the sound rich and silky, before guiding them both outside, knowing they had a while before dinner would be well and truly ready, chores long forgotten. All the rusalka wanted was to see the wonder on Yuuri’s face when Viktor showed him the tiny sika deer fawns that were hidden just inside the trees around the onsen.

***

 

It was on the night of Viktor’s seventh day that Minako showed up and Yuuri should have known it would only be a matter of time. Or...at least he would have had he not been so caught up in Viktor that he had completely forgotten his routine of going to the dancer’s studio.

“Yuuri! I swear if all this time away from my studio has made you put that weight back on” a tall, elegantly moving woman complained, tossing brown hair over her shoulder as she entered the dining room without knocking. Shrugging her shoulders, she shed a heavy jacket and made herself at home. 

Around them, Yuuri’s family greeted her warmly and Yuuri bowed his head in shame, moving to rub the back of his head. Yuuri hadn’t realized just how absorbed he had become in Viktor until this moment, he was normally so on top of things. Aside from skating, dancing at Minako’s studio was his usual escape, the routine dancing also helped keep him from putting on weight too easily... Now that he had found an escape in spending time with Viktor, he had begun to neglect his usual habits, but with luck it didn't show in the shape of his body. 

Yuuri was about to respond when Minako’s eyes landed upon the rusalka, the very cause of Yuuri’s absence. Brown eyes widened as her pink lips formed an ‘o’ of surprise. “Yuuri! Where have you been hiding him?” She demanded, striding across the room in long, elegant strides before sitting beside Viktor. Her eyes were appraising as she took him in, even going as far as to grab Viktor’s chin to turn his face to either side, ignoring the bowl of katsudon that had been placed in front of her.

“Well aren’t you beautiful~,” the dance teacher purred, making Hiroko laugh as she emerged from the kitchen with the rest of dinner in hand just in time to hear Minako coo over the long haired male.

Viktor offered her a winning smile, head cocking to one side as he took her in inturn. “I appreciate your saying so” a wink of blue eyes had Minako blushing and leaning back to look at Yuuri over one of Viktor’s broad shoulders, a brow raised in question.

Reaching out bold hands, Minako made to rake her fingers through the silver of the rusalka’s hair, and behind Viktor, Yuuri felt jealousy flare up inside himself. Even he had not gotten to touch Viktor’s hair. Not that he wasn't allowed to, but Yuuri had simply refrained from doing so because something about it seemed too intimate to him, and Yuuri doubted he could touch that moon light hair and not kiss the rusalka. Minako, however, was doing so without a second thought, her actions bold and self assured, the dance teacher hadn’t even considered the action to be impolite.The dance teacher even went as far as to sit behind the taller male, framing his hips with her thighs, fingers moving to plait his hair before finishing it off with a hair tie. “I remember when my hair was this long, but it was never this beautiful! The color is amazing,” Minako chattered, making Viktor smile slightly, head bowed and eyes down cast. “If I had known that they still made men like you I would have put off opening the pub and stuck to dancing...” she continued on.

Across the table, Mari watched Yuuri’s expression with a look of amusement. “You going to just let her put her hands all over your man like that, Yuuri-kun?” Yuuri flushed brilliantly at those words and tore his gaze off Minako where she still sat poised behind the rusalka, Viktor wasn't displaying any signs of returned interest, merely nodding and replying as much as was needed to be polite. His politeness wasn't wasted by Minako who continued to dominate Viktor’s presence, hands unbraiding and rebraiding his moonlight hair. But Mari was wrong. Viktor wasn't his. Viktor was a rusalka whom Yuuri had no claim over whatsoever. 

Just admitting that to himself inside his head, made Yuuri fill with a longing to change it. What would Viktor do if he reached out and grabbed that braid Minako had just so carefully done to pull him in for a kiss? He wanted to, to show Minako that she was overstepping her bounds and treading on what was his. He wanted to pull himself onto Viktor’s lap and drape his body over him, to claim him in a way that would be unmistakable. But that was too bold, and not his place to do so. Embarrassed by himself, he quickly fixed his glasses where they had begun to slip down his nose as he ducked his head down to hide his flushing face.

As if responding to Yuuri’s stress and knowing just what to do to reassure him, Viktor leaned back when Minako moved away to grab herself the bowl of katsudon off the table to press his chest against Yuuri’s shoulder. A slender hand pressed down on the human male’s knee in an intimate gesture that left Yuuri flustered. “I think I'm going to excuse myself, I want to make use of the springs while it’s empty,” Viktor offered, giving himself good enough reason to leave the small dining area without being rude. 

Both Minako and Yuuri reluctantly watched him go. “If only I was a man,” Minako expressed longingly, watching the silver haired creature exit with a swing of his braid against his spine, clearing thinking about what it would be like to follow Viktor into the bath. Meanwhile, Yuuri was struck with the fact that he could follow Viktor into the bath. 

When Yuuri finally was able to escape, he went looking for the mermaid.

When Yuuri found him, his breath was stolen from his lungs. Viktor lay in the largest of the spring pools, steam rising lazily in the cold night air. Silver hair floated lazily upon the water’s surface, darkened by the water to a pewter grey. Viktor had his arms resting lazily upon the pools edge, his face resting lightly upon his hands. On that angelic face was the most serene expression Yuuri had ever witnessed. To top it all off, Viktor had shifted back to his true form, his white tail brilliant and shining even in the low light. The sight of the rusalka, untamed and pure magic, was shocking and left Yuuri breathless. How had he ever not known Viktor to be more than human? It made him embarrassed that he had even needed to ask when they first met. 

Slowly, blue eyes opened and a warm smile bloomed upon pale lips. “zvezda moya,” Viktor called softly, reaching out a hand that was once more webbed, for his human love. Yuuri blushed and clutched his towel a little tighter around his waist. 

In the heat of his jealousy over Minako, he had thought it a brilliant idea to join Viktor in the bath. Now that he was here, completely naked except for the towel around his waist, he realized just how poor a plan this really was. Although he was in the best shape he could be, Yuuri felt less than proud of his body now that he was reminded with just how toned the rusalka’s own was. His discomfort also wasn't helped by the fact that he hadn’t expected to run into Viktor in his true form, having not seen it since the first two days that they had spent together on the ice. 

Viktor was the embodiment of otherworldly, ethereal beauty and Yuuri? Yuuri was awkward, bumbling, and far from beautiful. He found himself self conscious of the stretch marks that blazed their way across his thighs and stomach from his fluctuating weight. How could he ever hope to be worthy of Viktor?

And while Yuuri stood there full of self doubt, anxiety, and body issues, Viktor openly admired him. The rusalka saw nothing wrong with the stretch marks that lined Yuuri’s skin from going in and out of shape. He saw nothing wrong with his toned legs and flat stomach, nor the slender arms that held his towel in place. Had Yuuri still been round and out of shape, Viktor still would have found him to be just as lovely. Viktor only saw the beauty of the man he loved, it was the golden soul glowing inside that enraptured the mermaid so, the vessel it came in was only an added bonus as far as he was concerned.

“Are you going to join me?” Viktor inquired softly, a hand still out stretched for Yuuri’s own. When the human still made no move to approach, Viktor gently drew his fins in close to his tail and made to take up less space in the bath, trying to be inviting. 

Breathing out a deep sigh, trying to steady himself, Yuuri set his towel down to join Viktor in the water, hyper aware of the other’s eyes on him. But Viktor didn't look at him maliciously, or even with sexual desire as he entered the bath so Yuuri quickly found himself relaxing. 

Fins, nearly clear in their opalescence, stirred the water with barely contained delight when Yuuri joined him, a win as far as Viktor was concerned. He had joined Yuuri on the land, and now Yuuri was joining him in the water, as far as Viktor was concerned this was just one step forward in the progression of his courtship of the human. Him stepping into the bath felt like Yuuri accepting the fact that Viktor wasn't the human he made himself into for Yuuri. 

So, looking at Yuuri with large blue eyes, and a heart full of hope and wonder, it took the Rusalka a long moment to realize that he was staring and Yuuri was fidgeting nervously under the weight of his gaze. Blinking and looking away to ease some of the tension off the human’s shoulder, Viktor spoke. “Sorry, I just can't get used to it...”

Yuuri’s brow creased, worry rising high in his throat. “Used to what?”

A warm smile and an adoring gaze given out from under long lashes was his answer. “That I'm not alone anymore, that you’re here with me.” Shoving webbed hands through his silver hair the best he could, Viktor slicked it back from his face. “For 27 years I have been alone, and now I can finally say otherwise.” 

Brown eyes blinked in surprise. 27...that made Viktor four years older than himself. Yuuri hadn’t expected the other to be older than him, but that wasn't what was important. What was important were those four years. Not because they made Viktor older than him, but because they were four more years that Viktor had spent alive and alone. How anyone could want to leave Viktor alone amazed him, he himself could barely stand to be away from the rusalka. And that’s apparently what Viktor wanted. Viktor felt less alone around him, it was a realization that made his heart swell and flutter.

“Viktor?”

“Hmm?”

A shy hand reached out, hesitating before coming to rest upon the mermaid’s arm. Biting his bottom lip, he struggled. He wanted Viktor to know that he felt less alone because of him too, that Viktor’s feelings weren’t one sided, but he didn't know how to do it without revealing all of what he felt for the other. Forcing out a deep breath, Yuuri smiled, small and self conscious. “I don't want you to be alone anymore...”

“Yuuri...Can I touch you?” Viktor asked suddenly, blue eyes full of unspoken intensity, lips parted before he took one between his teeth. 

“W-what? Yes?” Yuuri stammered, shocked into agreeing by the blaze of that gaze and unexpected question.

Carefully, the rusalka shifted in whirl of disturbed water and delicate fins, moving until his arms were wrapped lightly around the Japanese male’s neck and they were chest to bare chest. Letting out a shuddering breath, Viktor buried his face in the crook of a stock still Yuuri’s neck. “Thank you, thank you for accepting me.”

Discomfort melted from Yuuri like butter on a skillet at those words, and he made to lightly wrap his arms around the other’s back. “You say that like I could have done anything else.” 

Laughter made Viktor’s chest bounce lightly against Yuuri’s own, the rusalka’s breath warm and tantalizing against the damp skin of his neck. “I have never actually met and talked to a human before you and your family, I had no idea what to expect. As I am myth and legend to you, you are to me in turn, Yuuri. This...this is more than I could have ever expected when I first spoke to you.”

Yuuri let those words sink in, digesting each word after turning it over carefully, hands idley tracing shapes against the strong, muscular planes of the mer’s back. They stayed like that for a long moment before Viktor slowly pulled away, leaving Yuuri to miss his closeness. 

“I should return to my human shape before I get too comfortable.” Viktor explained, answering the questioning look Yuuri didn't realize was on his face. 

Moving to the edge of the bath, Viktor placed his webbed hands upon the cold stones that lined it. For a second Yuuri thought he had changed his mind because Viktor didn't move and then suddenly, the rusalka writhed in clear pain, causing Yuuri to call out in distress. Just as he was about to touch a pale, shuddering shoulder to ask Viktor what was happening, the rusalka was looking over one shoulder, flushed and shaking. “Sorry, I didn't think about how that would look to you.”

Yuuri simply stared as Viktor lifted himself out of the bath, tail now gone, to rise to his feet. His legs--not that Yuuri took much time to admire them!-- were red, as if they had been burned but the color faded as Yuuri watched and Viktor took a few tender steps to where he had left his towel. A great sadness washed over Yuuri, and for once he was not blind to the harrowing look of sorrow and longing the rusalka held upon his face when he thought Yuuri wasn't looking as Viktor gazed back at the water. Standing there, naked and alabaster pale, his wet hair plastered to his bare back like the most fragile of shields against the world, Viktor looked a little lost and forlorn. The look melted away as the rusalka wrapped his towel around his waist. 

Just how much did it hurt the rusalka to be human like this for him? It made Yuuri’s untested heart tremble in his chest at the enormity of it all. So, scrambling to get out of the bath, he grabbed his own towel and followed after Viktor into the small changing room.

“Let me do that,” he all but begged, taking the towel from elegant hands, ignoring Viktor’s look of surprise as Yuuri did so. Yuuri kept his head bowed to hide his embarrassment at asking to dry Viktor. He knew the amatory act would be personal and perhaps far too bold of him, but he needed this. Needed to show Viktor that he was appreciated. That he was beautiful, and the pain he felt to be here with Yuuri was not a waste.

So, with great care, he made the Rusalka sit and carefully began to dry his long silver hair. Dragging the towel across the others wondering face, the column of his neck, bared and vulnerable. Yuuri dried him with reverence, gliding the white fabric over broad shoulders, his chest, before settling to his knees to dry each leg before finally looking at the Rusalka’s face. 

Viktor’s lips were parted, his snowy white cheeks flushed. He looked at Yuuri as if the Japanese male had offered him the world, “Я люблю тебя так сильно, что ты не представляешь, насколько.”

Kneeling awkwardly in only a towel between the rusalka’s knees, Yuuri wet his lips and cocked his head to one side, not knowing how to respond to the foreign words. “W-what?”

Releasing a carefully restrained breath, Viktor spoke once more, reaching out to lightly touch his fingers to the human’s lips. “I would give anything to be able to taste your lips but once...”

“Y-you can't!” Came the sharp response, shattering the gossamer blue moment of tenderness that had been created between them. Words spoken out of shock and without thought. Viktor recoiled as if he had been struck, and Yuuri stood, hastily grabbing his clothes off the bench and retreating away from where Viktor sat, bare and exposed in so many ways on the bench. 

“Yuuri, I--”

The human didn't give him much time to respond, shoving on his clothes and breathing heavily as anxiety took over and claimed the space his lungs needed to breath. “I-I'm sorry but you just can't!” And made his escape.

It was only when Yuuri was gone, that Viktor put his face into his hands, and allowed his tears to fall. 

Where had he gone wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so not my favorite chapter! But thats ok. Right? I have already started chapter four though and I can say that the ending of this chapter really inspired me! So hope for a better chapter is most certainly on the way! As always kudos and comments are appreciated ! They motivate me when I feel unable to write!


	4. The hurt holds the heart hostage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Yuuri's harsh words leave Viktor feeling lost, human and rusalka must work to decide where the future will lead them.

Later that night after the bath, Viktor couldn't help but feel lost. His chest felt hollow and empty, the sound of his pain echoing loudly in the space. Viktor couldn't keep himself from pressing his hands over his chest, as if trying to muffle the sound only he could hear. Each time he felt his heart beating against the skin of his fingers, he felt betrayed, for how could his heart keep being when it was so thoroughly broken? It had never been broken before because the rusalka had never known love, the sensations were so strong that he was at a loss as to how to handle them.

Born a creature of the water, Viktor experienced something he never thought he would before now: he was drowning. Despite being safe, his back pressed firmly onto a bed, he couldn't breathe, and unlike the familiar comfort of water pressing in around him, he was choking. Tears bloomed in his eyes only to cascade down his cheeks until he could taste them on his lips. Loneliness was a far more dangerous pool to drown in than any lake or river, and with only a few simple words, Yuuri had stripped him of his ability to swim in such waters. Before Yuuri, it had been easy because he had never really allowed himself to imagine that he might find someone who made him feel complete. The human had changed all that in a matter of nine days and Viktor had allowed hope to overrule his sense of reality, and now that reality came crashing back, he was struggling to keep his head above the metaphorical water.

Had Viktor been a fool? He had thought they had shared something beautiful in the bath. Yuuri had held him, and allowed the rusalka to bare some of his soul to Yuuri. Viktor had allowed himself to be vulnerable, letting Yuuri see the pain of his transformation and the quiet emptiness of his past, and Yuuri then so tenderly dried him. For a brief moment Viktor had felt well and truly cherished. When he closed his eyes, Viktor could still feel the towel running over his skin, and felt the timid burn of the Japanese male’s eyes upon his skin.He could still feel the warmth of their chests pressed together from when Yuuri had held him in the hot waters of the onsen. It made the rusalka’s breathing quicken and his body grow warm with ideas of its own that he hadn't let himself entertain in the moment when it had all been happening. Viktor knew himself to be a fool for imagining such things now when he knew he had no hope of ever actually doing them.

For a fleeting moment, when Yuuri had been drying him, the rusalka had heard his heart sing and the pain he felt in his legs had meant nothing to him. Viktor had allowed himself to believe that Yuuri would surrender himself over to being his mate and confirm once and for all what he had said that night on the ice: “I want you to be mine...”The words still echoed in Viktor’s head and kept him awake each night. Instead Yuuri had taken his heart and crushed it, leaving the rusalka with his hands full of the tattered remains, unsure as to how to put them back together. 

With shaking hands, he dried the tears from his face, lips pressing together to taste the ones that had trailed over them. Slowly, he shed his clothes until he lay bare upon the bed and allowed himself to shift back into his true form, biting his bottom lip to hold in the sounds of pain that wanted to escape him. When he was done and whole once more, he lay there panting heavily, the air now burning as it was dragged into lungs better suited for pulling oxygen from water. Being like this was less than comfortable without the water to counteract gravity and make him feel weightless, but if he was going to have to go back to the water, he’d rather not get too use to being human anymore than he already had. When he awoke, Viktor promised himself he would dawn his human form once more and return to the water, but for now the discomfort of being a rusalka in a human bed was less than that of his bleeding heart. 

Yuuri, on the other hand, was a mess and beyond upset with himself. Alone in his room, he tore himself apart as he went over the previous events that evening. Viktor had all but asked to kiss him and what had he done? He had fled instead of simply breathing out the answer he had really wanted to give: yes. How many times at dinner alone had he thought about claiming those lips? How many times in the past 9 days since seeing Viktor for the first time had he fantasized about how soft they would be? He coughed out a bitter laugh at his own idiocity. Viktor had offered Yuuri the very thing he had wanted and Yuuri all but yelled at him. The words echoed loudly in his head, a thousand times louder than they had been in reality: ‘You-you can't! You just can't!’

Hands pulled at raven hair and Yuuri tossed his head back until it hit the wall of his bedroom, chest heaving with frustration at how Yuuri’s own anxiety had ruined what could have been the best moment of his life. Viktor didn't have a clue as to what had happened, his expression as Yuuri had rebuffed him had said that much. The rusalka probably thought Yuuri hated him. 

The biggest problem Yuuri now faced came in the form of a single question: what happened now? The human highly doubted that Viktor would make such a move on him again, not after Yuuri had rejected him so harshly. Yuuri had seen enough people get rejected to know that it could ruin friendships. Could you apologize for something like that? Ask them for a do over? God he was an idiot, it made Yuuri glad that Viktor had met his family too, otherwise Viktor’s only impression of humans would be Yuuri’s own stupidity. 

Standing, Yuuri paced the floor of his room, occasionally stopping to glance at the door. He was half tempted to go and knock on Viktor’s door and pull him into a kiss when the rusalka opened it, but Yuuri knew himself well enough to know that wasn't going to happen. That didn't stop him from wandering out of his room until Yuuri stood before Viktor’s door despite having not wanted to be there.Once there, Yuuri stood not fully understanding just how he came to stand there nor what he intended to do next.The door was daunting, the plank of wood seemed to be making fun of Yuuri as he stood before it. At his sides, Yuuri’s hands clenched and unclenched as tension swept over him in waves. 

On the other side of that door, Viktor was probably a sleep. Yuuri could imagine him lying in a pool of blankets, tranquil and enchanting in his relaxed state. In a moment of selfishness, Yuuri hoped Viktor dreamed of him. Lord knows that Yuuri only dreamed of the rusalka now that he knew the creature existed.

Yuuri felt he knew what he should do. He should knock on that door and hope that Viktor was actually awake-- awake and willing to open the door. If Viktor did open the door, he would drop to his knees and beg Viktor to understand, to let him explain. Yuuri breathed out a tortured sigh and closed his eyes, but was quick to open them once more because burned onto the back of his lids was that shocked and hurt expression that had flooded the rusalka’s features when Yuuri had snapped at him. Yuuri had hurt Viktor and sooner or later he was going to have to face up to that fact and apologize.

Feeling like a coward, Yuuri returned to his room and lay awake until sleep stole him away without him noticing. When he dreamed, he dreamed of holding Viktor close in his arms, only for him to dissolve into water and slip through Yuuri’s fingers. 

***

Viktor awoke, early and empty. Sometime during the night he must have shifted back into his human form, because his legs were cold and bare much like the rest of him. Heaving out a sigh, he pushed his fingers through his hair, working out the knots that had formed in his sleep, not bothering to get up just yet.

Normally at this time he would dress in the warm clothes that the Katuski’s had provided him so he could get Yuuri up so they could walk to the lake. After the events of yesterday, however, he felt tired and worn, unable to face Yuuri again. The pain of rejection was still far too close to the surface, still stung too much when looked at, so Viktor tiptoed around the space it took up in his chest.

Forcing himself to sit up, the rusalka went through the motions of his human day as he had learned them. Brushing his hair, and dawned the clothes that humans were so fond of. Looking at himself briefly in the mirror to check that he still looked good despite how hollow he now felt, Viktor sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor. With a nod to himself and a quick self reminder that Hiroko and Mari would be waking soon, he walked quietly through Yu-Topia until he was outside once more, not wanting to wake up any of the Katuski family and have to explain why his usual charm was nowhere to be found.

Outside, the air was cold, and the chill cleared his lungs out the way the morning sun burned away the fog that clung to mountain tops in the night. Here, surrounded by the outside world his pain seemed smaller, more manageable. It was too easy to forget that he wasn't human when he was surrounded by the Katsuki family, but here outside of Yu-Topia with the breeze pulling on his hair and begging him for a dance, he was reminded once more of where he belonged when he wasn't with Yuuri. Somehow, as enchanting as it was, the world untouched by humans seemed less appealing now that he had gotten a taste of what life with Yuuri was like. 

Forcing himself to not linger on such thoughts, he pressed forward, entering the woods with little care, not bothering to see if he was wandering down a path or not, simply making his own as he made his escape from the emotions those very humans had burdened his heart with.

Perhaps it was because it was habit now, or perhaps it was simply because Viktor felt it would be easier to see where he went wrong if he started over from the beginning, Viktor eventually found himself at the lake. It stood, vast and still in the clearing that framed it like a picture. The forest around the rusalka was quiet and still as Viktor lingered in the edge of the tree line, not willing to step out into the clearing of the lake yet, because like the picture it resembles, it evoked in him memories of the past week, memories he was forced to second guess after yesterday's events. Maybe Yuuri was not alone in his anxiety. Birds starting to sing as they realized that Viktor was there once more, and news of his return spread slowly around the clearing. No matter how often he left, nature never failed to rejoice when he returned to her, and it showed in the way that song echoed through the trees as birds danced from one to another. Viktor had never noticed because he had always been too caught up in Yuuri before. Before Yuuri Viktor had never had reason to leave the wilderness, and so it had no reason to miss him. 

Taking his time, Viktor walked around the frozen shoreline until eventually he was carefully stepping out onto the ice. Taking care to not slip, the rusalka walked until he reached the spot where it had all begun. The hole in the frozen surface was almost gone, the ice had slowly crept back over the water during the last seven days and Viktor had failed to notice until now. It made Viktor realize that if he was to leave Yu-Topia, leave Yuuri behind if that’s what the human wanted, he would have to walk past where the landslide had cut off the river and return to his home waters. It was an awakening that made his heart feel all the heavier. He didn't want to leave the humans he had begun to think of as family, he didn't want to leave Yuuri. The rusalka didn't want to return to being alone in the russian woods with no one else to talk to himself. 

Settling onto the ice to sit, Viktor did his best to ignore the way it felt cold through his many layers. Blue eyes lingered on all that remained of the hole in the ice that had lead him to Yuuri. It was barely big enough to fit his hand at this point and the red dye remained a violent contrast to the glacial white of the ice.

A sigh flung itself from his lips, and leaning back, Viktor lay upon the ice. Star light colored hair a spilled halo around his head, and the sun warmed his alabaster face. The ice was cold and numbed the skin of his back and legs despite all the layers he wore. Closing his eyes, Viktor just breathed, letting go of all his fears, his thoughts, and his worries. After a night full of emotions painted in bright hyper color, he needed to let go and let nature reclaim him. 

After a considerable amount of time had passed, the rusalka looked up to see twin pairs of eyes looking at him, large and full of innocence. It brought a brilliant smile to full lips, and the rusalka sat up slowly so as to not scare them. Lured in by the magic in his blood, two silka fawns now stood before him, the very same two that Viktor had brought Yuuri to see just yesterday. They were delicate in their curiosity, black noses wet as they huffed in his scent, touching his cheeks, forehead, and hair as they tried to figure him out. Eventually, one after the other, they settled to the ice next to him, the bolder of the two twins all but sitting on his lap, looking up at him with adoring eyes and long lashes. From the tree line, their mother watched with devoted attention. 

“Are you two going to keep me company,” the rusalka mused, reaching out to gently trace the white spots that broke up their coats.

The rusalka was surprised that they had been born this late in the season when snow already littered the ground and made food hard to find. Perhaps they were a sign, if they could survive when the odds were against them then he too could survive this struggle with winning Yuuri’s heart. For that was what he wanted was it not? To stay here, to be human, and to win Yuuri’s love? 

As if on cue, a voice called out his name, tentative and unsure. “Vi...Viktor?”

Stepping into the clearing around the lake, Yuuri emerged. Startled by the sound, the twin fawns scrambled to stand and flee, leaving the rusalka shocked and alone on the cold of the ice.   
With a toss of pale hair that caught the slight and shimmer with ethereal beauty, Viktor turned to watch them disappear into the underbrush of the tree line. 

Seeing Viktor sitting on the ice filled Yuuri with so much relief he felt tears well up in the dark depths of his brown eyes. Moving almost frantically, the human slipped and slid in their attempt to reach the mermaid where he sat, stopping before Viktor to breath heavily. When Viktor turned to look at him, Viktor’s expression softened before quickly becoming guarded, making Yuuri hesitate where he stood. 

“Yuuri...” Viktor greeted with utmost caution, unsure as to what to expect.

“I thought you had left! I-I woke up and no one had seen you!” Yuuri all but yelled in turn, tears blurring his vision before they spilled onto his cheeks, leaving Viktor to stare at him with a shocked expression. “No one knew where you were and I looked for you! When I couldn't find you I thought that you had decided to leave!” 

Yuuri’s chest heaved and he struggled to breathe around the emotion that poured forth as if a damn inside him had broken. Viktor tried to speak, but Yuuri cut him off the minute he saw his lips start to move, “No! What if you had...what if you had left and I never got to explain myself? To apologize...How could you do that to me, Viktor!” 

Standing, Viktor’s movements mirrored that of a deer, hesitant and dainty and completed with the understanding that he might need to flee at any moment. Extending a hand out ever so slowly, the mermaid hesitated before cupping a soft cheek made cold and wet with tears that threatened to freeze upon the human’s skin. “What do you have to apologize for?” 

In his chest, Viktor’s heart ached. Yuuri might have rejected him, but that didn't change the way he felt, meeting Yuuri had changed something in him and there was no going back. Viktor had chosen Yuuri to be his mate, and even if the human rejected his courtship, Viktor knew he would only truly love once. 

Yuuri struggled to breathe in Viktor’s hold, his lungs giving up the air he needed to speak just to make him choke it all back down again. When Yuuri shook, it wasn't from cold but the intensity of his emotions. When he was finally able to speak, it was quiet, not at all the emotion shouting he had been doing earlier. “For last night...I panicked.”

“Yuuri, please....”

“Let me finish, Viktor.”

The rusalka fell silent and moved away from Yuuri, wrapping his arms tightly about himself. 

Yuuri stared at him. Took in the alabaster pale of his skin, the way the sun lit each strand of Viktor’s hair up with a breathtaking brilliance. The way those blue eyes were hurt and guarded. Fidgeting, he gathered his strength, he had come too far to back away now.

“I...When you said what you did to me last night,” he paused, brown eyes seeking blue for confirmation that Viktor knew what he was talking about, “ I panicked. In my panic I was rude, and inconsiderate of how you felt.” Yuuri stopped, looking away and feeling tears well up in his gaze once more. “I panicked because how could you possibly want me? How could you ever say something like that to me and mean it?” 

The human looked back to the rusalka where he stood, the distance between them feeling a mile long. Yuuri did nothing to hide the tears that once more trailed their way down his face. “Ever since I’ve met you, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. About how much I want you...and it scares me. I’ve never wanted anyone before, not like I want you. But I don't deserve you. You’re so beautiful, and magical, and everyone loves you-- you couldn't be boring if you tried.” He broke off, laughing a little and wiping his tears away. “And here I was drying you off, trying to deny what I feel about you when you suddenly say that you...that you want to taste my lips! I said no to save my own feelings while thinking nothing of yours until after.” Yuuri trailed off, losing steam and hating how vulnerable he felt. 

This time, Viktor did not wait until Yuuri wasn't there to see them to let his tears fall. Each one clung to silver lashes before sliding down pale cheeks. “Yuuri...what do you want from me?” The words were small, and verged on the edge of being broken they were so fragile.

Brown eyes blinked, tears slowly ending. “What do you mean?”

A sigh heaved from Viktors lips with enough weight to drown the rusalka in the very waters he hailed from. “I left the water to be with you, but what do you want me to be to you? Do you merely want me as a friend? A brother? I can't stand not knowing...”

Like a fish, Yuuri opened and closed his mouth, struggling to find the words that would express what he wanted--what did he want? “No...no I don't want you to be either of those things to me!”

“Then what?” 

Yuuri moved forward, and finally let himself sink his fingers into the silver hair that cascaded down Viktor’s broad shoulders. Reverently, and then with determination, he grasped it tightly at the base of Viktor’s neck. Pulling the Rusalka’s face down to Yuuri’s own until they were forehead to forehead. He spoke, “I want you to stay here, and continue to never take your eyes off me, and watch me as I fall in love with you.” 

Another tear slipped down the rusalka’s face as silver lashes lowered to hide his eyes from the human who sought to hold his gaze. “Yuuri...zolotse.”

“Ask me, Viktor. Please ask me, again.”

A deep shuddering breath proceeded the words that followed. “I-I don't think I can, Yuuri.”

Shock flooded Yuuri instantly, but he made no move to pull away. Lips moved in words that weren’t spoken as he tried to process this. “But...I...why?”

Viktor closed his eyes, biting his bottom lip as he fought to not cry once more. He had become too human during this last week. Emotions were so overwhelming. “How am I to know that my kissing you is what you really want? The second night we met...you complained about being lonely, and how I made you feel otherwise and how just meeting out on the ice wasn't enough for you...You said you wanted me to be yours. Last night however, you rejected me. How am I to know which is the truth?” It was only when blue eyes opened that he saw the confused look on Yuuri’s face. 

“I don't know what you’re talking about.”

Viktor’s brow creased. “You...came back that night, you were drunk but surely you remember?”

Horror flooded Yuuri’s expression and he buried his face in the rusalka’s neck, groaning. “I don't remember coming here at all! The whole reason I didn't come to the ice to skate that next day was because I was hungover and had to clean!”

Broad shoulders stiffened, and Viktor felt his heart drop once more if that was possible. Yuuri....didn't remember that at all? Viktor supposed it made a lot of things make more sense, but that didn't make him feel any less shocked. “You...you don't remember any of it?”

“No! I...I didn't do anything too forward did I?” 

Viktor remembered the demanding hand upon his neck and the way Yuuri had leaned in close until Viktor could look at nothing else. Too forward? No. Forward? Yes. “No, you were quite well behaved despite asking me to be yours.”

Yuuri groaned and finally released Viktor, taking a step away from him just to begin to slip on the ice. When he had righted himself and caught his breath, he spoke. “I must have seemed like the most horrible of teases...How could I have been so bold?”

A small, rueful smile formed upon Viktor’s lips. “I was confused, at first I thought perhaps you only desired me as a rusalka and not as a man...”

Shaking his head aggressively, Yuuri bit his bottom lip, wondering just how much he had put the rusalka through by setting expectations while he was drunk. “I...I’ve really made a mess things.”

Yes, I do believe you have,” Yuuri flinched at that answer, but Viktor continued on regardless, “but what matters most...is that we now know where we both stand.” 

“I want you to stand with me, I want to wake up each morning to you calling my name so we can skate. I want to fix this mess and prove that you leaving this lake wasn't a mistake--will you let me?”

Viktor laughed, the sound rich and amused and the birds in the trees around them quieted down so they too could listen to the sound of it. “I would like nothing more.” 

Reaching out for the rusalka’s hand, Yuuri cocked his head to one side, becoming more aware of just how cold the air around them had gotten. When Viktor took his hand, however, he quickly forgot the cold all over again, instead choosing to bestow upon the rusalka the most tender of smiles. “Come on...let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for continuing to read my story! Its been so much fun getting to write this! I still have no idea how long it will go on or where it will end but Im excited to find out! 
> 
> Who thinks they should finally just kiss next chapter? Show of hands? Also my song inspo for this chapter was Say It First by Sam Smith! 
> 
> Also! I have a question...would you rather see me post a vampire AU Viktuuri or a Slave AU Otayuri? Both would probably be a one shot...? Lemme know in the comments which I should write!
> 
> Also kudos and comments give me life and help me write! <3


	5. Begging for a touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With past tensions now resolved, Yuuri is left wondering how to patch his relationship with Viktor.

Cinnamon colored eyes couldn't dream of looking away from Viktor, as thoroughly entrapped by his celestial beauty as they were. There was a new element to the rusalka that hadn’t been there before, and it hurt Yuuri more than he could say to see it. If Viktor had been the brilliant blue of a cloudless sky before, he had darkened with cloud cover now, a lingering sadness trailing behind him. It would take time to recover from how Yuuri had hurt him, that much the human knew, but he didn't like it. He supposed it was unreasonable for things to go back to normal just three days after they talked about it.

The Katuski family watched the change in Viktor with concerned eyes, eyes that turned questioning when they rested upon Yuuri each time the Rusalka left the room. Yuuri merely stared back, helpless as to how to make the situation better. 

Sure, they had talked, they had discussed their misunderstandings, but that didn't mean that everything was fine. Viktor was still hurting because of the expectations Yuuri had never meant to set. 

On the evening of that fourth day after their discussion on the ice, Yuuri decided something had to be done. Trailing up behind the rusalka where he stood looking out a window, Yuuri hesitated before reaching out to grab a small handful of the others hair, bringing it to his lips. Breathing in the rich smell of the woods, tempered back by the soft seduction that was Viktor’s own unique smell, the human calmed himself. “Do you want to take a bath?” Brown eyes were shy as they rested upon the mermaid’s profile, watching the rusalka look out at the village where it stretched across the hill beneath the onsen. 

“Yes...I think I’d like that...will you be joining me?” Silver hair slipped out of Yuuri’s fingers as Viktor turned to look at him, head cocking to one side. The rusalka was not unaware of the way Yuuri had changed, before the human never touched him and now it seemed like Yuuri reached for him every chance he got, even if the only thing he touched was Viktor’s hair. 

Clasping his hands together, the smaller male nodded. Viktor looked so delicate, and it ruined him. So, he turned to lead Viktor to the onsen, looking away to avoid gazing at his bare body when the taller male stripped down upon reaching the changing room. When Viktor was done and waiting, he realized it was his turn and he shook his head no, making the Rusalka give him a confused look. Yuuri merely looked at his interlocked hands in answer before trailing behind Viktor out into the hot spring. 

Viktor looked at the water with a tenderness as was now his habit. Before the onsen, Viktor had never known that water could be this warm, and it delighted him. He was about to drop his towel when he stopped, looking over a bare shoulder at the human a few yards behind him. “I'm going to change,” it was meant to be a statement, but it came out as a question. 

“Go ahead, Viktor.”

A nod followed, moonlight colored hair rippling with the motion before the towel was dropped. Settling onto the edge of the bath, Viktor slipped his feet into the water, and waited. It was painful, so much more than it had been last time, and when he was finally in his true form, he was breathless and tears streamed down his face. How many more days could he spend as a human before that’s what he became? 

Standing a few feet away, Yuuri watched in shock once more.Yuuri knew that it hurt the rusalka to change, but had failed to realize just the extent of that pain, it seemed more extreme this time then it did just a few days ago. Silently, Yuuri moved to sit on the edge of the bath, rolling up his pants so he could stick his feet in. Patting the space between his legs, he waited until Viktor warily made to sit between them, his back facing the human. Careful hands made to untangle long hair, Yuuri having brought out a brush along with a few other bath items. Slowly, and almost reluctantly, Viktor relaxed under the attention until he was purring as the brush touched his scalp just to run down the length of tangle free hair. 

When Yuuri thought that Viktor’s hair had seen enough attention, he grabbed a sponge, one side soft and the other just rough enough to feel good. Humming under his breath, he washed and scrubbed the rusalka, Viktor moving almost without thought to offer more of himself up to the gentle care. When fins raised themselves, dripping and heavy, from the water to be scrubbed, Yuuri hesitated for only a moment before continuing on, letting himself revel in the feeling of scales and fins beneath his fingers. 

“Why are you doing this?” The words were a low, contented murmur as cerulean blue eyes peered out from under frosty white lashes. 

Yuuri took his time in replying, his hands finding their way into silver locks once more, fingernails scraping against the tender skin of the rusalka’s scalp. “I'm doing this because I don't know how else to be close to you. I need you to know that I want you to be yourself.” 

Shy fingers gathered all of Viktor’s shimmering hair into one hand to bare the ivory length of his neck. Leaning forward, Yuuri gathered his courage before ghosting his lips over that pale expanse of skin, hardly daring to breathe. When his lips lingered over the rusalka’s pulse, Yuuri heard Viktor made a sharp inhale, the rusalka’s body trembling ever so slightly in response in the physical touch. “Yu...Yuuri?”

The smaller male exhaled at last, and his breath spilled out over damp flesh, causing it to rapidly chill in response, making Viktor’s eyes close and his breathing hitch with the most delicate of sounds. If Yuuri was hoping to seduce him it was working all too well. It was hard to believe that this was the same man who this time yesterday had been saying Viktor couldn't kiss him. In that moment, however, Viktor didn't want to kiss Yuuri. He wanted Yuuri to bite him, to mark his pale skin and claim him. 

“Viktor?” Yuuri exhaled, embarrassed by his own audacity, but making no move to take his lips away from the warm skin that they had claimed, and instead he dragged them up until they could caress the shell of the rusalka’s ear with each word he spoke. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re beautiful?”

Eros, Eros was the name that came to Viktor in this moment, the god of sexual energy. It was as if the god had somehow decided to touch Yuuri on the shoulder and guide him. Viktor was helpless to the sheer magnitude of it. “No,” came the barely there breathed out answer of a response.

Lips curved into a smile against Viktor’s ear, and hands tightened around silver strands, forcing Viktors head to fall to one side, further baring the rusalka’s throat. “I wasn't lying when I was drunk that night.”

Lashes fluttered against high cheekbones, taken off guard by the sudden turn in the conversation, “W-what?”

“When I said I wanted you--that is what you said I had told you, correct me if I'm wrong-- I wasn't lying.” And with that Yuuri was relinquishing his hold on the rusalka, moving back to gather up the sponges and brushes before grabbing the Rusalka’s towel and throwing it over one shoulder. Turning part way to look over that very same shoulder, Yuuri let brown eyes meet bewildered blue. 

Biting his bottom lip, Viktor felt vulnerable. If Yuuri had been a rusalka, he would know just how drastically those last few seconds had impacted him. Every fiber of magic in the rusalka was fine tuned towards the human standing just an arms reach away, and the fins along his tail flared, pushing and disturbing the water in a display meant to attract and entice. The air around him grew dense and nearly shimmered as want, desire, and need pulsed through him. 

Yuuri stared on in awe, not full able to comprehend just what he was looking at but finding himself unable to care because regardless of it all, Viktor was lovely. So untouchably perfect in Yuuri’s eyes. Viktor might be fragile, impulsive, and insecure in his longing, but it was a perfect compliment to Yuuri’s loneliness and anxiety. 

As Viktor forced the magic back least he do something he regretted, he brought a hand to his lips before reaching it out to where the human stood, the embodiment of Eros. “W-will you carry me to the changing room? I...I don't want to shift back just yet.” Webbed hands propped themselves up onto the edge of the bath to be used as leverage so Viktor could pull himself out of the water. 

Yuuri flushed, his earlier confidence escaping him at the sight. Quietly, he answered, “let me put this stuff down and I’ll come back for you.” And that he did. 

Although he didn't say it out loud, Yuuri doubted he would be able to successfully pick up the rusalka much less carry him, but Yuuri’s training treated him better than he had thought and he picked the Rusalka up effortlessly. Webbed hands pressed against his shoulder and neck as Viktor clung to him, fins pressing tightly to his tail so as to make himself easier to carry. Yuuri’s clothes were getting wet but he couldn't bring himself to care, especially when Viktor had pressed his face against Yuuri’s neck, his breath ghosting against the thin skin behind his ear. If getting wet was the price he had to pay to be close to Viktor then he would pay it, even if it meant having his heart beat so impossibly fast and knowing that Viktor could feel it where his face was pressed against his neck.

When the rusalka was finally placed upon the bench, Viktor stepped back and stared. It was such a strange sight. The changing room was empty aside from the two of them, but it was so ordinary. Shelves lined the walls for people to place their things while they bathed, and benches lined the walls. Among all the ordinary things sat Viktor. Dang hair clinging to the pale milk and honey of his skin, webbed hands caressing the surface of the bench he sat on in quiet, idle motions. Before him, each scale a shimmering white revealing a myriad of colors, Viktor’s tail extended out, fins fluttered on either side of where his hips might be. 

Magic. 

And to top it all off, those blue eyes were looking at him with nothing short of longing and impatience. So, Yuuri answered their unspoken demand and moved forward once more and not unlike a few days before, made to kneel before the rusalka. As similar as the situation might be to the last time Yuuri dried off Viktor, many elements were different. Now, when Yuuri pulled the towel over damp flesh, he wasn't shy or uncertain, he was curious and wanting. Each inch of tail that was dried was caressed afterwards by curious fingers. Each delicate fin was explored, the human learning their texture and the way they moved as if to mirror the storm of thoughts inside Viktor’s head. When towel and hands reached skin stead of scales, he slowed to a stop, looking up into those endlessly deep blue eyes. 

Alabaster cheeks were dusted with pink, and a full lip was caught between Viktor’s teeth, and slowly, webbed hands reached out to touch Yuuri’s cheeks, desiring to learn him too. The webbing of Viktor’s fingers was cool against his cheeks in comparison to his fingertips as they trailed a path across his cheeks, down his neck, and up into the hair at the nape of his neck where the rusalka quickly became frustrated: webbed hands did not allow for him to card his fingers through the dark strands the way he wanted to. 

“Yuuri,” Viktor all but whined in a soft, breathless tone, as if he was in church and Yuuri’s name was a prayer he was afraid to say too loud for fear of others hearing. At the sound of it, Yuuri’s hands remembered their task and he returned to drying pale skin, not caring that his shirt and pants were still soaked from carrying him this far. 

Webbed hands grabbed the towel from Yuuri’s fingers and set it aside, making cinnamon colored eyes seek those of blue, an unspoken question in that gaze seeking an answer. Fins pressed in close to opal colored scales as Viktor grew uncertain of what he wanted to ask and Yuuri watched, wondering if he could ever hope to look this endearing when his own anxiety got the best of him. “What do you want, Viktor?”

Lips pressed together and azure eyes broke off eye contact as the rusalka spoke. “Can you do it again? What you did to me earlier?” 

Surprise and delight merged as one upon his face and Yuuri looked down to hide the coloring which was taking place upon his own face. The human stood and for a heart stopping moment, Viktor thought he was going to leave him alone in the change room all over again. To his relief, Yuuri moved instead to straddle his tail with his thighs so he could stand directly in front of Viktor. One by one, his hands reached out to slip into star colored locks, combing through the length of them before returning to where it began to fall at the nape of Viktor’s neck, it was there that they knotted in the pale strands. It was a quick and decisive moment that spoke more than words ever could and it stated one thing perfectly: mine. 

When Viktor felt the tension on his scalp, lips parted and his head fell back, slender throat being revealed in offering. Anticipation made his heart bolt like a racehorse fresh out of the gate and his hands clenched uselessly before he let them take hold of the wet hem of Yuuri’s shirt. “Please. Please, Yuuri...” Viktor pleaded in the softest of whispers, having begun to tremble without realizing it. 

As if taking pity on him, Yuuri bowed his head forward to press his lips just behind Viktor’s ear. As he did so, he wondered when this shift of power had occurred, and why he liked it so much. For once his anxiety was silent because there was no way to doubt the sincerity of Viktors words when his body so blatantly asked for him. 

Tension broke within the rusalka like the string of a bow being released when Yuuri’s lips made contact with his skin. They were warm, and teasing, and Viktor still trembled ever so slightly in the human’s hold, his knuckles white where he held onto the fabric of his chosen mate’s shirt. Lips made of temptation dragged down the length of Viktor’s throat. “Like this?”

Viktor broke, lashes sweeping down as he closed his eyes. “Yes...” Wetting his lips, Viktor released a shaking breath. “Let me....I won't kiss you, I swear it...but let me do the same to you, just this once...” 

“Yuuri? Viktor? Dinner is almost ready--are you almost done?” The sound of Yuuri’s father broke the moment, human and and rusalka stared at one another, each silently mourning the moment that had just been lost. 

When they sat together at dinner, there was a new energy between them and Viktor was so tense. At this rate, Yuuri was going to give him whiplash, but Viktor couldn't stop himself from enjoying it, he only hoped that things would remain this way. 

As they sat with the rest of the Katsuki family, Yuuri couldn't help but begrudge his family this meal, the skin of his neck tingling with the affection that it had missed out on. As they ate dinner, all he could think about was how Viktor’s lips might have felt upon his skin. After so many days of struggling with how to reconnect with the rusalka, he had never imagined it would be so simple as to give him the one thing that Viktor had always given him without hesitation before: physical affection. Now that he had started, he truly didn't want to stop. 

Across the table, Mari watched them with shrewd eyes. “You two finally kiss and make up?”

Viktor turned his endearing gaze upon her and with a smile blinding in its purity answered. “Not on the mouth!”

Across the table Hiroko choked on her dinner and Toshiya had to pat her back to help her remember how to breathe, and Mari felt her brows rise as she turned to look at Yuuri in turn. “Yuuri-chan, someone is growing up fast.”

“Mari-neesan! He didn't mean like that!” Yuuri rebuffed causing his sister to toss her head back to laugh at his embarrassment.

Finally able to breathe and smiling tenderly, Hiroko placed a hand upon her husband’s shoulder. “I'm just glad that you’re happy, Yuuri. You’ve been alone for too long.” 

“I don't want him to ever have to be alone. I want to be able to stand by his side until we see our last sun rise.” Viktor stated quiet but firmly, making pointed eye contact with Yuuri’s parents, the air around him turning serious in atmosphere. “Making Yuuri happy is the only thing I could ever ask to do.”

Silence fell over the room, and not there was not a single person who was not looking at the rusalka in that moment. Blinking large doe-like eyes, the rusalka waited for the silence to end but it didn't, it simply stretched on. 

Finally, after a long moment, Viktor spoke once more, dropping his gaze to his hands and lowering his voice until all had to strain to make out his words. “No one else inspires me the way he does, I can't imagine my life without him now.”

Mouth agape, Yuuri looked at the silver haired male beside him with large cinnamon colored eyes. Family forgotten, Yuuri reached out to rest his hand against Viktor’s cheek, cradling it softly against his palm. With a shy smile, he spoke“Viktor...”

“Not at the table, Yuuri. We don't want to see any of that ‘not on the mouth kissing’.” Mari interrupted sharply, aware of the way that their parents, although too polite to say anything, had began to feel uncomfortable. 

Dropping his gaze with a bow of his head, Viktor hid behind his hair as it fell forward to veil either side of his face. Perhaps, he wondered, he had said too much. 

They ate the rest of dinner in relative silence after that. On occasion Viktor would meet Yuuri’s gaze just for the other to flush and look away with a hidden smile. When words were exchanged, they were quiet and only to express needs for various things like soy sauce, or a napkin. One by one, they finished and dishes were washed. Viktor lingered at the sink, trying to figure out why his words had caused such a reaction; did humans not confess their feelings so openly? Perhaps he had been too free with his words. 

Leaning against the door frame, Yuuri watched the mermaid idly wash and dry dishes so clearly lost in thought. Yuuri had come to investigate when the mermaid hadn’t emerged shortly from the kitchen. When Viktor had finished, Yuuri spoke. “You done?”

Taken off guard, the rusalka startled, jumping slightly and nearly breaking the bowl he had been holding against the countertop. Yuuri offered an awkward laugh at the sight. “Y-Yuuri! How long have you been standing there?”

A soft chuckle escaped, and the human moved to take the bowl from the older male’s hands. Yuuri then proceeded to give Viktor a smirk that reminded him of the touch of Eros that he had seen in the bath. Without permission, Viktor’s breathing hitched and his heart began to race. A blush dawned upon alabaster cheeks and Viktor took his bottom lip between his teeth. Brown eyes cataloged each change with a raised brow behind blue glasses frames, surprised he could elicit such a response. It made his cheeks color when he wondered at how else he could get Viktor to physically respond to him.

“Just now--what did you think about?”

A moment of shy hesitation before Viktor spoke, “about your lips on my neck, and how in the bath earlier...it was like you were Eros.”

Eros. Yuuri’s lips formed the word without speaking it, head cocking to one side as he tried to remember what the word meant. When realization crossed him, Yuuri laughed lightly at it and pushed a hand through raven locks. Pushing his glasses further up his nose, he looked away to compose himself. He who had no experience in anything physical made Viktor think of a sexual god? It was laughable surely, Yuuri was someone who could barely bring himself to think about kissing Viktor without blushing and getting embarrassed. However, now that he thought about it...He was less embarrassed by the idea now. When they had talked out on the ice, something had clicked into place for him, and Yuuri had been forced to come to an understanding: Viktor wanted him. That knowledge unlocked a confidence that Yuuri didn't know he had. The best part of it, was also knowing that Viktor wanted him but not only physically but emotionally. 

“Did you like it?”

“Does the shore like the return of the tide?”

Yuuri hesitated, not knowing the ocean and water the way Viktor so clearly did, but looking up to see the resolve into azure depths, he knew that the answer could only be something positive. “Like the sea can I return to you, rusalka?” Yuuri bit his bottom lip, casting a sideways glance up at the taller male. 

Rapture broke out across that ethereally beautiful face, and Viktor nodded, silver hair falling into his face. Dainty hands made to push the locks back with long fingers, but Yuuri stopped him, stepping away from the door frame to stand before him. The human had to look up at him due to being shorter, but that didn't matter, Viktor waited patiently for direction from him, long strands of his hair getting caught in fluttering lashes as he blinked. 

“Say it...” Yuuri pushed the wayward hair back, nails grazing Viktor’s scalp as the human’s fingers slid through the full length of his hair to where it stopped at his hips and Yuuri let his hands settle upon those hips when he ran out of hair to caress. 

Wetting his lips with a blush, Viktor looked down at Yuuri’s chest. “Come back to me Yuuri--Eros-- teach me the feeling of your touch the way the sea reminds the shore with each turn of the tide.” The request was completed with a coquettish look from under long star colored lashes, a feat that was impressive considering how Viktor stood several inches taller than his desired mate. 

“Not here,” Yuuri denied him, and he smiled at the soft keening sound that escaped the rusalka. It made Yuuri feel a little shy about how bold and assuming he was being but it was hard to stop when Viktor so clearly liked it. “I don't want to touch you in the kitchen where anyone could see.” The words shocked him as they escaped, as blunt as they were.

The truth of the matter was that Yuuri was selfish. Viktor was his whether he knew it or not, and Yuuri had no desire to share. He didn't want anyone to see the way Viktor’s breathing stuttered and struggled, or the way his eyes closed and his lips parted so he could pant for breath. And if Yuuri was honest, he wanted to see more of the rusalka’s pale skin, and he could barely stand the idea of anyone else getting to see it. He already struggled to know that his parents had gotten to see all of the rusalka before him. Even if that moment had only occured because Viktor hadn’t known that humans wore clothing basically all the time. 

With the grasp of one pale hand, Yuuri led an all too willing Viktor out of the kitchen and into the onsen halls, guiding him through them until they stood before the door to his room. Here, he hesitated before shaking his head and leading them to Viktor’s room instead. When they reached the door, Viktor moved forward to open it, silently permitting Yuuri entrance. It was the human’s first time inside since Viktor had come to inhabit it. It was quiet and empty, something that for some reason surprised Yuuri. All that was in it was a bed, and a small pile of folded clothes with a brush and a mirror. 

Viktor made to sit on the bed, watching Yuuri with quiet eyes. He was excited, impatient, but he didn't want to assume, Yuuri could have changed his mind. 

When he had looked his fill, Yuuri turned to where the rusalka so impatiently waited, none of the impatience he felt showing upon his face. Viktor had nothing here, he had given it all up to be with Yuuri, the least Yuuri could do was give Viktor himself, even if he just selfishly wanted to demand Viktor give him everything. As he approached the silver haired creature where he sat, muscular thighs parted, and Yuuri blushed at the bold invitation but made to stand in between them regardless.

He was a fool, Yuuri didn't need to ask Viktor to give himself, the rusalka would do it regardless of whether Yuuri asked him to or not. His speech at dinner had made that much apparent. 

So, playing along with the role Viktor has assigned him, Yuuri stood tall between those thighs, their highs nearly evened out with Viktor sitting like this. “What would you ask of Eros, little rusalka?”

Viktor gasped, a sharp little inhale at the question. He realized what Yuuri was doing. A low, shuddering breath was torn from his lungs before he could answer. “Please...touch...touch me.” Viktor felt powerless like this, and he liked it. He liked the way that Yuuri surprised him. He never imagined that the shy, reserved human could command him so completely--where had this confidence come from?

A smirk that barely covered the awe he felt formed on Yuuri’s lips. Hands, slow and careful, rose to graze lightly calloused fingertips across high cheekbones, along his jawline before his fingers splayed out to run down Viktor’s throat. In a whisper that came out shockingly husky, an inquiry followed, “like this?”

No answer came, the room was full of low light in which Viktor’s pale skin and hair nearly glowed. His eyes had closed and his head tipped back. Like before in the changing room, Viktor’s hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, a testament to the amount of self control he was currently applying to the situation. 

A single word dripped from his lips like honeyed sin making blood rush to Yuuri’s groin. “More.”

Keeping a careful distance so Viktor couldn't feel how the situation was affecting him, Yuuri let his hands explore. Greedily, he learned the shape of Viktor’s shoulders, so much broader than his own, the way his sides tapered down to a slender waist. He hesitated as he grasped those narrow hips and Viktor’s bottom lip trembled with the breathiest of moans. “Touch me, Viktor,” a command, he had meant to guide him to where they could be alone so he might steal a kiss, but it seemed the moment had ideas of its own.

With a slump of his shoulders as if a great weight was taken from them, Viktor let his hands find purchase on Yuuri’s hips, long fingers accidentally finding their way under the fabric of his shirt and touching warm skin. “Thank you,” Viktored murmured reverently at the permission granted to him, having begun to tremble once more with the strength of his longing to get his hands upon the human he so adored. 

Selfish, Yuuri brought his hands to the knot that held the top of Viktor’s onsen robes closed and pulled it undone. He wanted to see more of Viktor, to enjoy his skin in a context other than platonic enjoyment of the bath. Green fabric loosened in response, threatening to slip off milky white skin.. With great care, Yuuri grasped the neckline of it to slowly ease it off the broad expanse of snowy white skin that was Viktor’s shoulders, holding it it so it didn't reveal much more than his shoulders and pecs. Stunned, Yuuri simply sat and watched the heavy rise and fall of that chest for a brief moment, losing his grip on Eros and once more becoming shy. 

A low, broken sound escaped the human before he was pressing forward, lips greedily finding their place at the soft skin of Viktor’s neck just below his ear. Burying his face in Viktor’s neck, he felt soft hands grasp his dark hair, and he ignored how his glasses were probably uncomfortable pressed against his neck. Next time-- his face burned at the idea of there being a next time-- he would have to have the wits to remove them. 

“Y-Yuuri!”

His self control trembled and wavered. It was too much, too soon. Yuuri had never even kissed someone before and here he was! Undressing Viktor like he had any right to, while his cock was half hard in his pants and Viktor’s pale skin flushed and awaited his lip. The rusalka was only all too trusting as he surrendered himself over to Yuuri’s lust.

“Let me kiss you and be done.” Yuuri breathed, leaning back and letting go, relinquishing the mermaid from his hold. His brown eyes watched as the green fabric fell just to get caught around Viktor’s elbows, revealing more of that creamy skin making his resolve waver. Carefully, the human pushed his glasses back into place.

“Done?” Viktor repeated, despair clear in that panted out word. Blue eyes widened and he shook his head, hands scrambling to grasp the front of Yuuri’s shirt so he could buy his face in it. “I don't want you to be done,” the words were nothing short of a whine, and Yuuri looked down at him in surprise.

“Viktor...”

Looking up, Viktor’s face was open and pleading and then suddenly he was standing, pressed chest to chest with Yuuri. Long fingered hands found dark hair, and like Yuuri had done to him, grabbed the dark strands to make the Japanese male bare his throat. Soft lips found warm skin, and Viktor grazed his lips over the warm skin, brushing them back and forth. “No....surrender yourself to me.” 

Yuuri was about to respond when lips parted and Viktor’s teeth grazed his skin causing his knees to buckle and for Yuuri to have to cling to the mermaid to remain standing. “Viktor,” he repeated, unable to say anything else as he felt those teeth continue to graze his skin.

“Yuuri...please.” Viktor breathed.

Yuuri trembled, and feared his knees might give out once more. “This isnt me rejecting you, Viktor,” the human comforted, trying to figure out the best thing to say. “This is me wanting to wait so its...its perfect. A few days ago I messed up and thought I was going to lose you. Today I just wanted to kiss you and I couldn't even do that...”

Viktor laughed, breath warm against hypersensitive flesh. “You still can...”

“I know, but will you let me end it there?”

Viktor gave pause at that, and a sigh escaped him and he pulled away. “Maybe I'm just scared that if I don't claim you now you’ll change your mind again...”

Sadness washed over the Japanese male, and he echoed the other’s earlier sigh. “Viktor...no one has ever made me feel like this before...I'm not going to change my mind.” 

“But Yuuri....I only have so much time.”

Dark brows drew together at that. “What...what do you mean.”

A head of silver hair shook, denying him an answer. Reaching out a cool hand, he traced the human’s mouth. “Just...kiss me goodnight,” Viktor surrendered. 

Yuuri opened his mouth to say something, but instead simply rose up on his toes to press his lips to Viktor’s cheek in a tender, yet melancholy kiss. 

“Goodnight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo....how is that for a chapter! I know...I didnt let them kiss! I was going to but! GAh! It didnt happen...  
> I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this chapter! I personally am not completely sold on it. (I wrote three different endings for this chapter, my beta chose the one that got posted.) 
> 
> Also! Look out for some sexy Vampire AU Viktuuri coming your way! Im currently writing that for you! 
> 
> As always, kudos and comments are welcome! They inspire me to continue!


	6. Of Lust and Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Viktor has a bad dream. 
> 
> Thats a fabulous summary right?

Viktor couldn't say how long he has stood in front of the door to Yuuri’s room, a hand raised to knock on the door. The hour was late and instinctively the mer knew that the sun would be rising in a few hours, but still the fear gripped him. In his chest, his lungs still heaved and his heart raced. In the darkest corners of his imagination, the nightmare lingered. Closing his blue eyes, he let the tears fall down his cheeks before hastily brushing them away before knocking.   
“Y-Yuuri?”

A soft mumble answered before the door was sliding open and Yuuri was peering out from the door frame with eyes made heavy with sleep. Rubbing a fist across one eye, Yuuri remained silently in the doorway for a long minute. Confusion creased his brow before he was smiling and reaching for the mermaid’s hand, drawing Viktor close so he could bury his face in the taller’s chest, nose grazing his collar bone. It hadn’t hit yet that he was awake and this was not a dream. “Viktor, what are you doing here?”

The rusalka was frozen, caught by surprise at the way Yuuri so eagerly embraced him, closing the door behind him. As surprised as he felt, however, Vitkor was quick to wrap the human up in an embrace of his own, needing the reassurance after the fear his nightmare had struck into his heart. “Can I sleep in here with you tonight, Yuuri, I know you said that you didn't want to go any further and that's fine! I-I just can't be alone right now.” Viktor pleaded quietly, feeling for the first time since taking on this form: afraid. 

With a sleepy murmur of agreement, Yuuri led Viktor to the bed, and the rusalka relaxed almost immediately upon being surrounded by the human’s scent. Viktor’s lips parted ever so slightly so he could gulp down a few lung fulls of the thick scent of the human leading him into the room, allowing himself to be comforted by it. Yuuri only became completely awake when he snuggled the mermaid into his embrace, spooning Viktor against his chest on the bed. And then it hit him. He had just invited Viktor into his room, into his bed, and Viktor’s back was pressed up against his chest. And this was not a dream and the rusalka’s creamy skin smelled like him from their encounter earlier that night. . 

“What’s wrong, rusalka?” 

Viktor trembled slightly at hearing Yuuri refer to him as such, and the humans arms tightened around the rusalka in his embrace. “Yuuri...my being here doesn't make you unhappy does it?” The words, as tense as a drawn bow, were painted the brilliant red of insecurity. 

Confusion flooded Yuuri, this was not the direction he had expected his very unexpected conversation to go, especially after Yuuri had had to force himself to not ravish the rusalka earlier. “Viktor...what--”

He was cut off, Viktor whispering his troubled thoughts into the darkness of Yuuri’s room. “I want you to want me to be here. To appreciate that I followed you. I want you to smile when you see me, but so often I feel like I embarrass you, that I'm simply too much--that I ask for too much. When I close my eyes at night, I see you pushing me away. Telling me that I'm ruining your life by being here with you.” The insecurities escaped him like bats out of a cave, vast and overwhelming.

The fear in those words, and the fact that Yuuri could feel Viktor’s heart race where his chest was pressed against Yuuri’s back, floored him leaving him silent and thoughtful. Hands rose to gently card through silver hair and rub down the length of the older male’s back. “Viktor...what are you scared of?”

The russian creature in his arms tensed, and Yuuri moved to press his hands against the others chest, holding him in place against himself. Yuuri’s hands felt small against the broad planes of Viktor’s chest, and he couldn't help but dig his nails into the firm muscle and grasp the fabric of the onsen robes that covered it in his hands. 

“Yuuri...I'm...I'm changing.” Viktor breathed, chest rising and falling beneath the humans hands in response. “Every day that I'm human...my magic dies,” and his body trembled at those words as if to prove it, “every time I change its harder. My body is forcing me to decide.” 

Silence settled over them, and Yuuri buried his face in the back of his love’s neck to let his mind comprehend. 

“I-I don't understand...”

A pained sigh, and hands shifted to settle over Yuuri’s in a touch that was light and insecure.

“Yuuri, zvezda moya, I have to choose. I can't be a human and a rusalka, I can only be one. Eventually when I go to change my body simply won’t allow it...” Viktor swallowed thickly, and in the cover of darkness, a few tears slipped down his cheeks.

Behind him, a quiet “oh” escaped. 

Clearing his throat and nodding his head, Viktor continued in a diminutive voice. “ So forgive me if I'm impatient, or demanding. I want you, surely you know that much by now? But I still don't know how you want me, Yuuri. I'm scared that my body will make my choice and I’ll be stuck without you...and if I have to live without you, I’d rather return to my home waters. Staying here...human and without you, having to see you everyday and know that I can't have you...” Blue eyes closed in the darkness and more tears fell. “It would kill me.”

“Viktor,” warm lips pressed against the soft skin that peered out from behind a veil of long moon colored hair, “you really are oblivious aren't you?” 

Trying to be subtle about it, Viktor sniffled and shifted in Yuuri’s arms to look over a broad shoulder at his face where it was barely visible in the darkness of the room. “What do you mean?”

Laughter, warm and amused permeated the air. “Have you not listened to anything my family has said when we’re in a room together? Were you present when I dried you after your baths? Or this last one where I bathed you myself? How could you possibly think that I don't want you?”

“Yuuri....”

“Yes, Viktor?”

“Will you please kiss me?”

Silence settled over them once more before Yuuri was pulling away, shifting on the bed and making Viktor’s breath catch in his throat. For all his words, it would seem that his human was rejecting him once more.

And then Yuuri was shifting on the bed once more, placing a hand on the side of Viktor’s head so he could lean over him, dark hair framing his pale face. The hand not supporting his weight reached for the rusalka’s face, a thumb brushing over full lips. “Ask me again.”

Viktor’s back arched prettily off the bed, and a small tortured sound broke from his throat. “Yuuri, zvezda moya, please...kiss me. Please kiss me.” Desperate hands fisted around handfuls of the human’s bedding so as to not force his desires upon him.

Letting time span out between them, Yuuri lowered himself down until his lips met the blonde’s in a touch that would have put the caress of a butterfly’s wings to shame. Under him, Viktor absolutely keened at the tease. With a faint smirk as Yuuri channeled the Eros that stole the rusalka’s breath away so thoroughly, he spoke. “You are mine, rusalka. You chose me...and this is me choosing you.” Hooking a leg around Viktor’s he flipped them suddenly so he lay sprawled out beneath the heavenly creature. “You wanted to claim me, didn't you?”

Breathless and awed, Viktor greedily took in the sight below him. Flushed cheeks, dark hair falling back off his forehead, chest rising and falling with baited breath. Yuuri, open and willing. “Yes.”

“So take me.” Yuuri wet his lips, and waited. 

Slipping off his shoulders, moonlight colored hair fell to veil the human’s face off from the world, narrowing it down until it consisted of nothing more than Viktor’s enamored face above him. Hands, devoted and adoring, reached for the silver strands around him, bringing them to Yuuri’s lips with a soft exhale. “You are so beautiful.”

“Beautiful and yours,” Viktor explained tenderly, slotting his hips between Yuuri’s thighs, oblivious to the way they shook ever so slightly with nervous need. 

Mirroring the rusalka’s earlier actions, Yuuri arched his back and turned his head to press his face into his bedding, Viktor’s hair still clutched in his grasp. “That’s not enough...don't you get it,” the words were breathless, panted out as anxiety mixed with desire in a dangerously potent cocktail, “we keep beating around the bush with what we want and all it does it cause us to hurt each other.” 

 

Viktor laughed at the truth of these words, bowing his head with a curve of his shoulders. Warm lips, demanding and appreciating, scoped out the topography of Yuuri’s throat and collar bone. “Shall I tell you exactly that it is that I want?” Viktor demanded, lips parting so his teeth could scrape over tender skin and steal a shocked and aroused gasp from Yuuri’s parted lips. “I want to tell you...”

Shaking hands released the silk of Viktor’s hair to grasp the tops of his hips in nothing short of a bruising hold. “Yes...”

Viktor took his time in answering, letting his tongue part his lips to trace unspoken desires onto waiting skin just so his breath could rapidly chill the moisture left behind. “I want to mark your neck with my teeth, to bruise the tender flesh and leave behind a single scar from my teeth. My love for you may leave me human but I want to mark you in the primal way of magic. I want to bare your skin and feel it beneath my hands...your chest...your thighs...” as he spoke Viktor leaned back, letting his hands do just that in a light, fleeting caress. 

Beneath him, Yuuri was breathing heavily and nodding his eager agreement. In a single bold movement, Yuuri tossed his head back to bare his throat. A growl ripped its way out of Viktor’s throat and the air around them grew thick and hot as the magic in the rusalka’s blood stirred. The rusalka’s hands finally settled upon the smaller male’s hips, fingers caressing the curve of bone under the warm skin and strong muscle before taking it in a demanding grip to better slot their hips together, making them both moan in tandem as their cocks slotted together. 

In a wisp of a sigh, Yuuri rasped out the rusalka’s name. “Viktor...Viktor please...”

With a roll of his body, Viktor lowered himself down to mouth that his human’s neck once more. “Yuuri,” came the reply as long fingers slid from newly bruised hips to the front of the loose pants Yuuri wore. When the tips of questing fingers discovered the sides of Yuuri’s hardening length, a growl, low and feral, escaped. “Please?”

“Yes yes yes,” Yuuri all but chanted in reverent prayer, no one had ever touched him in this way before but he knew that if Viktor didn't do so now there was high chance that he would die. His own shaking hands came to slot themselves over the rusalka’s, and with baited breath guided Viktor to where his arousal was becoming more and more painfully hard.

The tease of friction was almost as much of a blessing as Viktor himself. As it were, now that Viktor had his hands on Yuuri, he was eager and all too enthusiastic, thoroughly exploring the length of Yuuri through his pants. With every brush of those curious digits against the engorged head, his hips would stutter forward without permission and the fabric over it slowly grew damp. 

It all came to a grinding halt when Yuuri shoved himself up into a sitting position to lay claim to Viktor’s throat. Lips and teeth showed no mercy to the alabaster skin, and when Yuuri closed his mouth over the mermaid’s pulse point and sucked, it was Viktor’s turn to buck his hips. Aggressive, demanding hands pulled the human into his lap where Yuuri immediately ground his hips down, rolling them forward so they pressed together in the most intimate of ways. “Do that again...do it again.” 

Eager to please, Yuuri worked his way across a blank canvas, biting, sucking, and mouthing at the skin of Viktor’s throat, pulling open his robes so bare more of that milk colored flesh to his hungering mouth. As Yuuri devoured him, Viktor worshiped at the altar that was Yuuri’s body. Slender hands danced their way across narrow shoulders, down the length of the human’s spine before slipping into the back of his loose pants. 

“Stand.”

“Wh--what?” Yuuri brokeback breathlessly, brown eyes wide and bewildered in the near darkness. Those wild eyes admired the mess they had made of the rusalka’s neck, once the pale perfection of untouched snow now a molten purple of bruises. There would be no hiding this evidence of their actions. 

Pulling his hands out from the human’s pants, Viktor tipped his head to one side, silver hair spilling around his shoulders with the motion. “Stand up. Please.”

Not sure why he was being asked to do this, Yuuri rose to stand on coltish legs, shaking with the desire that made his cock throb and tent the front of his pants in a way that would have been embarrassing if he hadn’t just been sitting on the hard press of Viktor’s own arousal. Below him, Viktor shrugged his way out of the tops of his robes, not wanting to deal with the way the fabric caught and held at his elbows. 

With eyes the color of the evening sky, Viktor peered up through a tangle of dark lashes to hold Yuuri his captive, their locked gaze the chains by which he bound him. Wanting hands grasped toned thighs, and without looking away, Viktor leaned forward to press soft lips to the tip of Yuuri’s hardened length where it was hidden by the thin fabric of his shirt. “Say it...tell me that you want me here...” Viktor begged quietly, lips parting so the moist heat of his breath could permeate the fabric separating his lips from begging flesh.

“Viktor...please don't stop, don't stop Viktor. I need you so badly. I need you here with me...” Yuuri begged brokenly, hands slipping into that silver hair he was so stupidly enamored by. Knotting it around his hands, he guided the rusalka forward, encouraging him to be bolder in his explorations.

The air around the blonde vibrated with magic, and if Yuuri had his glasses on, he would have been able to see the way those pale strands of hair he held so zealously gleamed and glowed, the mermaid literally glowing from the inside in a quiet, ethereal way. Like a man bowing at the pew, Viktor prayed, but the sacred name upon his lips was no gods but Yuuri’s, spoken the way a dying man asks for but more more day to live. “Oh, Yuuri...”

Fingernails grazed hypersensitive skin, and with one last look to ask for permission, Viktor stripped Yuuri of the pants that stood in his way. They fell down muscular thighs with a whisper of fabric to remain pooled around his feet, but Viktor couldn't bring himself to care. Curving up towards his stomach, Yuuri’s cock stood tall and proud, the head an abused red that begged for attention. Wetting his lips with anticipation, Viktor leaned forward until he could press the most innocent of kisses to the weeping tip, causing Yuuri to bite his bottom lip and whimper. 

Biting his bottom lip, Viktor paused, looking up at the beautiful human standing over him. Yuuri had one hand in Viktor’s hair and the other in his own, head tossed back in wanton desire, lip caught between his teeth and a brilliant flush pouring down his cheeks to color his throat before disappearing in the neckline of his shirt. “Look at me, Yuuri. Watch me the way I promised to watch you.”

And Yuuri did, hand moving from his hair to the neckline of his shirt, pulling it up to his mouth in a hopeless attempt of dampening down the needy little sounds that escaped him. As soon as Brown met blue, lit but the faint light of dawn that revealed the ripening hours, Viktor gave an angel smile before parting his lips and taking the pulsing cock into his throat. 

For as smooth as the movement was, Viktor still had to fight to not gag when it hit the back of his throat, driven on instinct instead of experience. It was worth it, however, when Yuuri’s thighs shook and his knees threatened to give out. Under his skin, Viktor’s magic pulsed and glowed, flesh humming with the suppressed desire to change. The building tension in his flesh only spurred the rusalka on further however, and he set about trying to pleasure the man he desired so much. Lips and tongue sought to learn him, experimenting with what made Yuuri gasp and shudder, which speeds caused him to breathlessly gasp out Viktor’s name. What Viktor’s mouth couldn't reach, he covered with his hands, occasionally letting one defect from the task at hand to cradle the weight of Yuuri’s balls. 

With a particularly loud moan, hands clenched around moonlight colored locks and his hips stuttered forward with impatience. “Please...please...I cant ...I can't hold it. You have to stop or I’ll...” Yuuri trailed off again, his second hand joining the first in the rusalka’s hair, pulling weakly in an attempt to pull those sin laden lips off his engorged length. 

Viktor was having none of that. Instead, when he felt the pressure of his hair being pulled translate into pain upon his scalp, he let out a debauched moan, and that was all it took to have Yuuri coming down his throat with a shocked and startled gasp, hips jaunting forward to make sure his load hit the back of the rusalka’s throat. 

As soon as Viktor pulled off to swallow, the light under his skin vanished. 

Before him, Yuuri collapsed into Viktor’s arms, shaking and spent, and oh so blissfully happy. 

Bowing his head into the crook of Yuuri’s neck, Viktor breathed in the smell of him. He hesitated for only a moment before parting his lips and biting down on the soft skin right at the base of his collarbone, and with what little magic he had left, healed it and set his mark into place. “I love you, zvezda moya.”

And then the rusalka was no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this is probably the shortest chapter...to be honest I wrote it in about 4 hours? I just wasnt having it. So sorry its short. And probably full of mistakes. My beta didnt get time to look at it...so just know this may get edited again later! /
> 
> Again! Comments and kudos are encouraged They help me when I despair because of writers block! Thank you for all of your support so far!

**Author's Note:**

> How is that for a cliff hanger! I'll try to upload the next chapter sometime next week! Kudos, comments, and feed back is always welcomed!


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